Quboid wrote on May 3, 2012, 12:39:
I really hope this doesn't compromise their single player games.

Slashman wrote on Apr 26, 2012, 15:49:
I tried the first Torchlight on a friend's system when I was repairing it and I really just couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

It didn't do anything significantly better than Titan Quest IMO. And it lacked a lot of the character building and interesting skill trees than TQ had.

The setting was generic and it just plain reminded me of Fate. I played through several levels just to see if I was missing something significant and realized that I wasn't

I do like the fact that these guys(a small indie company) are making stuff that sells, I just don't get what was so great about it.

The lack of co-op wasn't a problem for me...the game not being very interesting was the problem.

The cutesy pets and the fishing just seemed like distractions from the fact that its a generic, dungeon-crawling hack&slash game. Not particularly challenging or interesting story-wise.

Torchlight 2 may very well be a better game, but I'm definitely going to wait and see before I buy it. So a pre-order is out of the question.

Verno wrote on Apr 25, 2012, 09:30:

StingingVelvet wrote on Apr 25, 2012, 00:29:
Can't play this until June. Really eager to see if the ending is as bad as all the fucking press coverage makes it seem.

It's pretty rare to see the critics and fans so united in their displeasure, it is objectively bad in many regards. I'm a huge fan of the ME series, it's had many problems over the years but its very engrossing and seemingly aspired to a different story telling method. All of that goes into the tank with the ending. It's poorly edited, a lot of the occurrences make no sense, it discards the themes of choice and comradery built over the series. It's a damned shame because ME3 is otherwise an excellent title, even the horde mode style MP is alright.

It would be one thing if it was well written and the cutscene cohesion made sense but fans just didn't like it. I've played many games where I didn't like the ending, I'm sure others have too. Endings are one of those things no one does well because there is little money in it.

This fan effort is just silly though, it will make no difference.

PHJF wrote on Apr 24, 2012, 15:40:

Not sure if stress testers had access to the beta forums or not, but there was a post not too long ago that said Nightmare and Hell difficulty will ramp up obscenely, and that crowd control will be essential to defeating them.

Easier said than done. Crowd control comes at the expense of damage dealt, and damage not being dealt is time being wasted. Diablo is not an MMO and they'll be infuriating a lot of people if they turn boss runs into raid-like affairs that are impossible to solo and that take hours to complete.

Diablo has been/should always be about killing gobs of monsters in quick fashion.

Beamer wrote on Apr 20, 2012, 13:44:

Verno wrote on Apr 20, 2012, 09:35:

pressing ESC closes character sheet

Nice, that one was bugging me.

Yeah, drove me nuts. This game should need the mouse as little as possible.

Good fix.

eRe4s3r wrote on Apr 19, 2012, 05:08:
A bubble is when people put money in and expect returns before anyone that ever put money in got ever an return.

Also a LOT of people put more than 15$ in.....

by the way, why do Americans put the $ before the number? Are you not reading symbols literal? When say 15 dollars I type 15$ ! You would not normally say dollars 15 ... would you?

Makes no sense. so 15$ it is ;p

Blue wrote on Apr 6, 2012, 14:10:

AnointedSword wrote on Apr 6, 2012, 12:52:
Ya, the true meaning of Easter has nothing to do with the secular world...Does Blue always post on here or does someone else? I really do not see Blue using this terminology? It is like smacking Christians in the face...

Sorry, simply an error, one that may seem surprising, but I've always had to consciously not get that backwards.

Not sure how it would be interpreted as an insult, however. Seems to me you are being a little sensitive.

Anyway, apologies for the stupid mistake.

Beelzebud wrote on Apr 6, 2012, 12:50:

Linthat22 wrote on Apr 6, 2012, 11:42:
I mean, is it just me or did something happen with Bioware?

EA Games happened. What surprises me is that people saw EA buy them out, and it didn't occur to everyone that Bioware was no longer in charge of their own studio. Now we see the results. Despite what the good Doctor says, the buyout drastically changed Bioware. And not for the best....

Creston wrote on Apr 5, 2012, 16:50:

EricFate wrote on Apr 5, 2012, 15:37:
But will the extended cut scenes be properly color coded?

Here's a screenshot of the new ending.

Creston

NegaDeath wrote on Apr 5, 2012, 15:52:

Yifes wrote on Apr 5, 2012, 15:43:
Uh you do see humans merge with synthetics. Watch the synthesis ending again.

To be sure I didn't miss anything I watched it again on youtube. Reapers take off just like blue ending, green energy spreads, Joker and EDI walk out of Normandy looking normal. No shots of any people changing form or looking different. What part are you referring to?

Yifes wrote on Apr 5, 2012, 12:30:
And read the PA link. The entire game is the ending to the trilogy.

Cutter wrote on Mar 28, 2012, 15:02:
So no preorder GW2 on Steam or other digital services. And in Canada apparently EBGames has the exclusive on it. So the want me to go to a store I hate and support them as well as pay an additional 13% in taxes that I don't pay online? Oh yeah, and htf are you supposed to have a 3 day head start if don't even get your copy till launch day? Fucking NCSoft. It's wonder those clowns are still in business. Looks like I won't be playing GW2 afterall. Jesus they've really dropped the ball on this one.

JohnBirshire wrote on Mar 27, 2012, 05:03:
No world PvP? Interesting.

Will you be able to respec in Diablo 3? Or are you going to have to start your character all over again when you misclick and make a mistake at level 97?

InBlack wrote on Mar 21, 2012, 11:00:
Damn. Thanks for the reply Verno. Will definitely be checking it out. I like action RPGs but apart from Diablo 1 & 2, none have impressed me beyond 'like'.

wonkawonka wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 13:55:

Verno wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 13:41:

briktal wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 13:27:
A lot of the stuff you're talking about (the charges are the main exception) only LOOKS different in DA2 but is really just the same as something from DA:O.

Feel free to refresh my memory but I can only think of one ability Rogue ability in DA:O that instantly closes distance like half of the things in DA2 do. In fact you don't even need abilities necessarily, Hawke will flip and jump around just through auto-attacking often enough. It marginalizes how you use the field in combat and is likely due to the player being required to be in so many places at once due to spawning/waves. Also, heavy weapons like a 2H sword have no wind up time as they do in DA:O and are thrown around like nerf bats.

And what about the Nightcrawler ability? You know, the one where the rogue teleports everywhere in turn, hitting one enemy after another?

Kastagir wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 13:09:

briktal wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 10:41:
Really, for all the "awesome button" talk, the combat system itself wasn't that different in DA2. However, having enemies spawn in multiple waves from various spots in the room you were fighting in screwed up a lot of positioning and crowd control and other tactical stuff.

What? I took one look at the demo and saw how Hawke was running warping around the battlefield from enemy to enemy, swinging his gigantic sword so fast that it must have been made from styrofoam. How is this better than the paced combat of DA:O unless you're using a console fighting game as a baseline?

Verno wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 10:29:

StingingVelvet wrote on Mar 20, 2012, 10:22:
I like how they've pretty much admitted DA2 was not a success but they still say bluntly they won't return to the style of DA:O. It's gonna turn into a trial and error series of vastly different games.

Of course. Multiplayer, day one DLC bonanza and so on are forthcoming. All of their supposed humility is always tempered with caveats about how they're still doing whatever they think is right despite what fans want. They're either incredibly dense or working within stringest guidelines from EA. Probably a little from column A and a little from column B.

They need to make an actual CRPG otherwise DA3 will be a failure and the end of the franchise. DA2 had very iffy sales numbers, I'm sure its on the razors edge with EA.

Though I still think DA2 was more tactical than most people give it credit for.

That's ok, you're still wrong

Scottish Martial Arts wrote on Mar 19, 2012, 22:08:

Paketep wrote on Mar 19, 2012, 21:14:
EA killed Bioware. They just don't know it yet.

Nah, Bioware was never very good to begin with, especially post Baldur's Gate 2.

Baldur's Gate 2 is easily their best game, and despite its weaknesses, I'd even go so far to call it a great game. But what made it great? It was the encounter, quest, and dungeon design. Baldur's Gate II was just filled with hours upon hours of really solid, consistent, B+ content, supported by great game mechanics. The actual story wasn't that great, and many of the characters were just obnoxious, but boy was Baldur's Gate II fun to play.

Fast forward to Neverwinter Nights, and what do you get? A narrative focused game, with terrible encounters, quests, and dungeons. "Let's stick the player in a cave with 20 goblins -- THAT will be fun!" seemed to be the operative content design principle. Meanwhile, the writing was still a mess and wasn't enough to carry the game.

KOTOR was an improvement over NWN in both narrative and actual content, but the simple reality was that the content was poorly designed and bereft of tactics, and the narrative and characters, aside from the shock of the BIG TWIST, were pretty lackluster. It didn't help that they borrowed the same narrative structure (find four macguffins to stop an ancient evil) and characters (Aribeth and Bastila are the same fucking character) from NWN. In fact, that reuse of characters and plot structure from game to game has come to define everything Bioware has done post-BG2.

If you continue the analysis whith each of Bioware's subsequent games you keep finding the same problems -- focus on a fanfiction quality narrative supported by lackluster content, reusing the same stock characters and plot devices from game to game. The only real innovation that Bioware has brought to their formula in the decade since NWN is gay romances. But if that's all you have to sell your game, titillating the lesbian fantasies of your virginal fanbase, that speaks volume of how little you know about actually designing a compelling game.

Now with DA2 and ME3, Bioware has finally gotten so self indulgent with their writing, and so lazy with their content design, that even their most dedicated fans are starting to wake up and see them for what they are: a pretty mediocre developer.