Finally someone has the guts to not make a sequel or franchise game, despite having some good, potentially milkable IP. Can't wait to try this.

> Anyone else getting the odd texture problem in the game

I didn't notice any odd textures.

> Anyone else notice that Half Life Source is also now
> available to play?

I didn't notice, I was too busy playing the sequel. The remake will have to wait.

I just finished the first two levels and I must say its way more nifty than I expected.

After grabbing the zip file from gamers's hell and extracting the installer (GTR_DEMO.EXE), I get an error "the setup files are corrputed". This despite the zip file testing OK in winrar. Anyone else get this?

> That's a nice assessment coming from a man with a name of Troll.


Sigh. Even in trolling I am a miserable failure! My posts are just too intellectual, dammit!

> video game modification (MOD) community

This part sounds amusing. I thought *video* games were something else entirely. :-)

This game has been out in Europe as "The Westerner" for some time now. The graphical style reminiscent of the Toy Story movies takes some getting used to, but the game itself is very nice. Not quite a Monkey Island in terms of humor and style, but the logical puzzles make up for it. Certainly much better than the recent Broken Sword.

Apparently the very hard stencil shadows will remain the preferred method for indoor stuff (e.g. http://www.unrealtechnology.com/screens/RagDoll.jpg) for quite some time.

Otherwise this indeed looks awesome.

I recently finished this (the german version).

The gameplay / combat is awesome! There is a mission where one has to retrieve some documents from a building thats full of booby traps. Its cool to just have someone trigger a mine, and when the *entire building* collapses in a massive chainreaction of explosions, get the documents from the rubble.

However, because everything can be destroyed, sometimes characters get stuck in basements and can't get out again. (They can climb out if they have something to grab on to, but this is not always the case.) Its good to check for these situs w/o waiting until the end of the mission.

Mild criticisms: The story is a bit uninspired, the characters not as strong/funny as JA2, and the ending is unspectacular. Plus, maybe I just didn't get it, but the scouts seem to be useless.

Fallout 3 with this engine would have ruled. :-/

I can't wait for the expansion pak.

Yes, they were good, but not very good. Certainly not as excellent as the BIS games.

Let me start with the obligatory
"NOOOOOOOOO".
The Fallouts and PS:Torment were my favorite CRPGs too.

However: You guys have to realize that besides the just discussed problem that the industry is increasingly going after consoles in an attempt to make a profit, it is also putting out more sequels and franchise / license based games than ever before. This too is a bad thing because game developers are forced to work on an endless stream of remakes rather than trying to create truly original, eventually experimental games. I may have a hard case proving my point here, because I'm willing to bet that all upcoming games most of you are eagerly anticipating are sequels or franchises. This is only in part your falult because very few original titles have been announced over the last few years. On the other hand, the reason you all like sequels is because you expect that the sequel will be more of your last favorite game, only better. On the other hand, a new game that you have no clue about (someone just mentioned he initially steered clear of Torment because the PS universe was **an uncommon franchise** and he was unfamiliar with it.) is not neccesarily so attractive. However -- in reality, there is no reason a developer can't screw up a sequel if they try to be innovative (see DX:IW). Alternatively some developers have no probem re-releasing exactly the same game in the form of sequels countless times. So remember: Developers make sequels because Publishers tell them to, and they will do so as long as you keep putting them first. I'm certain that a lot of people just bought DX:IW because they loved the predecessor, and even more have bought that sad matrix game because they liked the movie (and part 3 was not out yet!).

I for one would be happier to see something fresh and new rather than a Fallout 3, even though, as I said, the fallouts were favorites. Fortunately there were several recent attempts at original crpgs (Morrowind, ArxFatalis, Arcanum, etc), unfortunately none of them were very good.

In a world where the vast majority of computer and video game profits are made with PS2 games, PC gamers should be happy if they get straight console ports of AAA titles.

I am personally glad to see this outcry because it may sensitize developers to the importance of providing a demographic aware gameplay experience across platforms in the future, even though its most likely wishful thinking.

On the other hand, if the big publishers neglect the PC market, it will give an opportunity to independent studios with new ideas rather than sequels and licenseware, so thats a good thing too.

This comment was edited on Nov 26, 14:10.

"... 'Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich' will give
Freedom Fans more than they can handle."

Do we really want to be given more than what we can handle? And why won't we be able to handle it?

i[We got 3d engines, sound engines, physics engines, scripting engines but not a good AI engine, WTF???]

i[But at this point, I don't see how games could share a common "AI engine." ]

Commercial AI engines:

AI implant http://www.ai-implant.com/
RenderWare AI http://www.renderware.com/renderwareai.html
DirectIA http://www.directia.com/
SimBionic http://www.stottlerhenke.com/products/index.htm

> http://www.elecard.com/download/index.shtml

Thanks, now it works.

Can't play it either, on WinXP / MS Media player. Does anyone know what codec this needs?

> Galaxies is a social game. It's not Battlefield 1942.

> Go to the link at the bottom of the big post.
> It will convince anyone.

Right, looking at those screenshots, the social aspect seems to be the best part, but my point was that one can get social interaction on the same niveau by, for example, posting on this forum, for zero dollars a month, not to mention real life.

I don't see anything else of interest going on on those screenshots, though the Naboo vistas do look really nice.

> I think that the devs have done an amazing task building > something like this

Yes!

> and it's going to get better and better.

I hope so.

> They should go play Jedi Knight instead.

We will. ;-)

> Troll, this is hardly the place for a well reasoned,
> thoughtful post on the problems that lie at the heart of
> every MMORPG.

Doh! I am a failure even as a troll!!
I shall have to compensate by quoting a seasoned troll veteran so we can all hope to learn from him:

Re: poor freddy
* REMOVED *
This message was deleted at Apr 14, 14:42.

Thanks for the informative post. As a former MUD and constant CRPG player who has not yet decided to go for any of the graphical MMORPGs so far, I conclude that I should keep waiting. Maybe in five or so years technology and game design will be far enough along to make this sort of game entertaining for a larger demographic.

There seem to be a few basic flaws with MMORPGs in general:

First, one will never have the player focused story and feeling of individual accomplishment as in a single player game where the entire gameplay is focused on that. Every single one of the thousands of users cannot be made to feel special. That is why you all have to start by doing boring stuff like countless random encounters.

Second, one also doesn't have the feeling that the people who are high level have gotten there because they have some sort of admirable skill, such as a Q3A player who is able to clean out a level or a Warcraft3 player who is able to maintain his standing in the top ten of a worldwide ladder. These other multiplayer games most certainly don't make all the players feel special either, but they motivate because one aspires to build one's own skills rather than simply accumulate the experience points of one's alterego. The only thing that can be said with certainty about a high level RPG player is that he has been playing for a long time / spent a lot of money.

The social aspect is the only redeeming element in my eyes that one doesn't necessarily find in other genres, but there are enough free social places on the net (IRC, usenet, forums, MUDs, etc) to make one think twice before paying a monthly fee for it.

I disagree with your post in one point: Jumping is not the feature that is missing, it is the walls that are too small. Clearly, the wall is there so you are prevented from going across it for some obscure reason.

If the wall was meant to be scaled, perhaps jumping across it would be the commonly accepted game mechanic, but it is rife to be replaced by more true to life sorts of context sensitive climbing animation (see for example Splinter Cell). Jumping was fine in Super Mario and is fine in Olympic sports games, but it needs to yield to more sensible options just about everywhere else.


(Edited spelling)
This comment was edited on Jun 23, 17:53.