| 3 DEC 2009 at 5:10pm |
ArkadiaPrivate Detective
Posts : 558
Joined: 1 JUN 2008
Status : Online | When does Bioshock 2 come out? I've only made my way through half of the first one
I'm currently attempting to finish The Witcher and Mass Effect. I just can't seem to get into Mass Effect like I should. I adored KOTOR, but for some reason ME feels a bit shallow to me. My opinion of it plummeted after I got into space and found that most of those 'planets' you can select don't really do anything. I feel a bit ripped off haha. I don't expect to visit that many places but it just seems like an unneccessary tease. Ah well, I can acknowledge it's a very good game, for some reason I'm just finding it more of a chore than a pleasure to play through :-?
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 5:59pm |
Taurnil MithrandirJourneyman
Posts : 1093
Joined: 13 AUG 2006
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Arkadia (3 DEC 2009 5:09pm)
When does Bioshock 2 come out?
February 9, 2010. Patience.
....set the controls for the heart of the sun....
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 6:08pm |
Mr Innocent.Journeyman
Posts : 1317
Joined: 15 JAN 2008
Location: GR
Status : Offline | Re Mass Effect, you can stick to the main quest if you find the general exploration uninspiring, Arkadia (and let's face it, three basic designs repeated over and over for 40 side quests can get old quickly). The MQ is probably the shortest in a Bioware game, and interesting enough to warrant the dozen hours you need to get through it.
For myself, I finally started Risen and having a good time ignoring the various quests and just exporing and trying hard not to die from the deadly beasts inhabiting the island. Just as in G1, getting at least the worker's clothes as soon as possible (and that can be a good 3 to 4 hours) is an absolute must, without them a mangy rat is a major threat... and there is no living (or animated) thing in Risen that isn't 10 times stronger than a rat.
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 11:49am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By nik2008ofs (3 DEC 2009 6:08pm)
For myself, I finally started Risen and having a good time ignoring the various quests and just exporing and trying hard not to die from the deadly beasts inhabiting the island. Just as in G1, getting at least the worker's clothes as soon as possible (and that can be a good 3 to 4 hours) is an absolute must, without them a mangy rat is a major threat... and there is no living (or animated) thing in Risen that isn't 10 times stronger than a rat.
Oh, yay! I hope you enjoy it, Nik! 8-) the quests are fun though- you'll see how each area reminds you of a different Gothic game.
As for me - I seem to have picked up an ugly virus this week that is keeping me away from my PC. This is a test run to see if I could handle staring at my screen for any period of time, but as my stomach is already churning, and my head spinning, I'm afraid I'm going to have to switch off again soon. So no gaming for me, though I'm missing it fiercely.
How frustrating... :'(
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 4:26pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2548
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | aww traveller, i am sorry you are not feeling well.
Re Mass effect, actually if you do the side quests and explore everything as the real guy would have things take a long time and are really fun, no need to hurry or keep track of hours in play, just enjoy it, it is a wonderful adventure.
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 4:34pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Fnord (3 DEC 2009 2:29pm)
I'm done with gothic 1. The developers estimated the game to last 80-100h, it lasted just over 18h for me Still, it was a highly enjoyable experience, with an interesting setting, interesting creatures and a good story.
Yes, the first transformation was interesting *smiles* When I noticed that I did not turn back, i thought that it was a very long lasting spell and went of to make some tea. When I returned, my character was still a bug, so I started searching the internet to see if it was a known bug... only to find out that you are, in fact, supposed to press enter.
The transformation spells were fun, but I was so afraid that they would come in handy later on, so I ended up never using them (apart from when I simply tried them all out, althought i reloaded afterward)(much like healing potions and every other scroll, apart from those used to kill the golems.... By the end of the game I had more than 300 healing potions and 150 mana potions left unused).
When I played morrowind for the first time I did not save after being done with the initial part, which I really did regret afterwards.... After getting of the silt strider in Balmora I jumped of to the left of the platform... and got stuck between the rocks. I think they fixed this location with the first patch.
Ugh, I can't believe I actually missed this post...- I’ve been offline most of the time due to me being ill..
What? 18 hours? Fnord, you are a gaming monster! No wonder you plowed through Dragon Age so fast! I guess you'd make short work of Gothic 2 and 3 then... - but do yourself the favour and play G2 with NOTR installed, which I think is the default G2 you get with Gothic Universe anyway.
The Gothic games are the perfect games for pack rats like me - I can't remember about Gothic 1, but I always have more plants in my inventory than I need in Gothic 3, because I’m a compulsive plant picker..
PS. Thanks for the sympathetic sentiments Chris. I suppose you of all people have a good idea of how frustrating it is to be incapacitated, and I cannot imagine what poor you must go through at times, if only these few days have been so bad for me... :-*
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 9:43pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | 18hours? I spent more time then that simply exploring the world and looting various things lol.
You miss a lot in RPGS (especially ones like Gothic with an open world) If you just go from point a to point b following the storyline and don't really explore it much.
Always feel like I'm "missing" something if I don't explore every nook and cranny in an rpg like that or Dragon Age.
Also of note for those of you who haven't bought Risen yet, Direct2drive is having a big Christmas Sale this month and Risen is one of the games they'll be having on sale one of the days (It lasts 24 days starting on Dec 1). So keep an eye on it. I haven't picked it up yet but if it's just 20 bucks or so I probably will (So far all the games on the sale have been 50-75% off).
btw Traveller hope you get to feeling better too. Some chicken noodle soup and sprite always made me feel better when i had the flu or something similar.
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| 5 DEC 2009 at 1:06am |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2548
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | Glad you are feeling better Traveller, chicken soup in deed..and sprite or soda actually helps calm the tummy, partly due to the sugar and partly due to the carbonation. Feel all good soon
wow, Fnord, that was amazing, i am putterng along in DA, just trying to save people in the castle where the Arl is supposedly ill, if his castle is infested with Darkspawn i bet he is feeling more than ill
[img]http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/4494/castlelg.jpg[/img]
working on KoTOR 2 almost done and about to start Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines and Requiem, a pair of quite interesting looking games with what looks like very decent ambience and complex plot options that have been much improved by loving mods and restorations by the community. The major community patch for Bloodlines is up to Version 6.6 and is almost 80 MB!
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| 5 DEC 2009 at 1:59pm |
FnordSchattenjger
Posts : 2758
Joined: 15 SEP 2008
Location: SE, Stockholm
Status : Offline | Aye, NOTR is installed with gothic 2 in the universe version. You don't even get the option to not install it. One thing that does bug me about the universe version tough is the fact that you can't chose your install location, it simply installs to your OS partition.
I did a fare bit of exploring actually, at least early on in the game. While I most likely missed a few spots (I just remembered that I forgot to explore that tower with the skeletons, and the beach with the fire lizards (two places I visited when I was too weak to fight those creatures)). Still, the game world was not huge, and you visit a large portion of it trough the main quest (at least according to the map).
There were a lot of flowers and other useful plants in gothic 1 as well. Well, I did not actually find a use for most of them, but I'm sure that they had some kind of use. Eating them did nothing tough (even tough the description said that you should regain some health by eating them).
Something that I did find out when trying to find a workaround for a bug was that the English version of gothic is in fact censored. There were some mild nudity in the German version that they removed when translation the game (one thing survived the translation tough, and that was a rather vulgar drawing that the mapmaker sells, simply named "sketch", that they somehow seem to have missed)
The castle in DA is quite fun. Watch out for the courtyard, it's most likely one of the hardest parts of the game, if you don't have a dedicated healer in your party. Vampire the masquerade bloodines is by the way one of the best CRPGs that I have ever played. It's buggy as heck, but the replay value is high, and the setting is wonderful. If you know anything about white wolf's old world of darkness setting (also known as oWoD) you will most likely be able to get even more out of the game, as it's very faithful, and it ties in rather well with the metaplot in the setting. Oh, and if you play a Malkvian you can have a conversation with a stop sign.
If you enjoy the setting, then Vampire the masquerade- Redemption might also interest you. It's a simple hack and slash game, but the story is good.
Sprite and other carbonated beverages works when you are ill because they contain a lot of sugar. As you usually don't eat as much when you don't feel well, the added energy boost is good for your body, and helps you recover faster. The carbonic acid is not very good tough, as it might make an already upset stomach feel even worse. It's usually better to eat well than drink carbonated soda, but if you don't feel like eating, it's better than nothing. And don't get me started on the idea about vitamin C helping against colds...
Sorry about that.
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| 5 DEC 2009 at 5:23pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2548
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | Ys you can undo the censorship in the gothic games with the community patches but you have to start over it you did not have them installed at start of gameplay. That bugged me but it was fixable.
Glad you enjoyed that game.
I am intrigued indeed by the White Wolf works, and have both VtMR and VtMB on order and arriving soon, i figured i should have them both. The bugs most of them are fixed by the amazing commuinty patch work which can be found here;
http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/vampire-tm-bloodlines-47/unofficial-patch-6-6-bloodlines-5th-anniversary-116369.html
tho i understand the Hallowbrook Hotel is still buggy and veteran players use the console and 'no clip' to get thru. There are some other console commands including "money" which sound fun.
And there are some great quest mods here:
http://www.moddb.com/games/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines/mods
and a good tweak guide for optimizing the game that the veterans suggested is here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/914819/43148
I have been advised to do my first play thru with the Toreador Clan as some of the others are so crazy i might not know what was going on. (which is often my condition in life..but why add to it )
I love discovering some of the amazing game community efforts and the work to enhance and upgrade these titles is remarkable and the games themselves look very interesting.
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| 5 DEC 2009 at 9:21pm |
FnordSchattenjger
Posts : 2758
Joined: 15 SEP 2008
Location: SE, Stockholm
Status : Offline | Toreador is a good starting clan, as is clan tremere. Malkavians might be a bit hard to play, as you have to guess what it is that you are actually saying.
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| 5 DEC 2009 at 10:05pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | lol but it's quite hilarious at times, talking to a road sign for instance.
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| 6 DEC 2009 at 9:53am |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 595
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | As usual a bit late catching up on games and I'm sure this one has been talked about before...
What's the feedback on Arcania (a Gothic experience)? Any good?
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 6 DEC 2009 at 8:24pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2548
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | I am cautiously optomistic...i have liked all the Gothic Series from JoWood very much, tho some of their other games are really boring and cookie cutter repeats of the same format and the same models even transposed to differnt eras. So their titles are a bit erratic. But I have always loved the main Gothic theme, a huge game world, great story, and wonderful detail, basically a german view of a game world which has infinite detail and amazing depth. It can be a bit overwhelming at times and some of the quests and the game play in Gothic III was troublesome. All the bugs that people keep talking about in the game reviews are fixed, or most of the, by great and dedicated community patch projects or official patches. But...... i am not sure about Arcania.
They changed developers, and are investing big time in upgrades, basically trying to out Oblivion Oblvion. The game world does look nice but i am unsure about some of the "enhanced" combat and game play features...they appear to seem to be trying to move the series more into the hack and slash direction which i feel would be a huge mistake but we just dont know yet. There was a demo at E3 and it ran well tho used a placeholder main character from Gothic III, they do have the landscape and world features worked out well and there are some nice views online you can see. Basicaly, i am going to wait and see, I am hopeful but just dont know...
[img]http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/263/arcania3.jpg[/img]
JoWooD announce that the release of its awaited action-RPG title, ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale has been postponed to 2010.
ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale, the next opus of the Gothic series, is planned to come on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. In its commitment to release a AAA title, JoWooD has committed substantial extra development budget for ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale to be a flagship title and one of the best RPG releases of 2010.
"A strong investment in quality and innovation is the way for a publisher like us to take a strong position in the RPG market. We want, with ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale to offer the best of the Gothic franchise, as we believe we have in our hands the game to compete against the best RPGs out there" says Albert Seidl, JoWooD CEO.
http://www.arcania-game.com/?lang=en
[img]http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/8762/arcania1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4488/arcania5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/7578/arcania4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5593/arcania7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/4990/arcania6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/8624/arcania2.jpg[/img]
As you can see from the screenies they have continued the hyper realistic Durer Bruegel like intensity of the realism of the world view, ultimate detail, and some lovely atmospheric effects, a full day night cycle, which I have always enjoyed, and have made a lovely world. They have also retained the full range of foes and mosnters, huge beetles, bugs, and other meanies to deal with... and the hero goes thru a transformation, he is not the favored son of the Gods anymore at least not as much. from what I hear.
But a lovely game world and great detail do not a great game alone make....we will see but i am an optomist and hopeful for a great release for 2010.
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| 7 DEC 2009 at 8:09am |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 595
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | Thanks for that- those screenshots look beautiful.
I hadn't even realised it was part of the Gothic saga, I've just had it on recommendation from Amazone.
I've also been recommended Divinity 2- I didn't even know it had been released! As you can tell I'm a bit out of touch with RPGs at the moment. What is the feedback for that?
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 7 DEC 2009 at 1:47pm |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1477
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | It hasn't been released yet except in Germany I believe, it's not out here (In the US) or offered anywhere in English at the moment.
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| 7 DEC 2009 at 2:05pm |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 595
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | Divinity 2 is on sale on Amazon UK- it's not marked as pre-order, despatch is 1-3 weeks.
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 7 DEC 2009 at 2:54pm |
SpiritogreIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 81
Joined: 30 SEP 2008
Location: DE
Status : Offline | While everyone else is playing Risen I first started playing Gothic 3, at last! With fanpatch 1.7 and Questpack 4 it seems to be a real huge game.
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| 7 DEC 2009 at 8:35pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2548
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | Gothic III is wonderful. Just as i have noted on other posts, be careful NOT to liberate too many Orc towns, no more than 3 or they will turn against you totaly and you wont be able to do many quests. It is a wonderful game and a huge and beautiful game world.
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| 8 DEC 2009 at 6:14pm |
SpiritogreIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 81
Joined: 30 SEP 2008
Location: DE
Status : Offline | Thanks for the hint. I have to admit I doubt it will come even close to Oblivion (since that's my all time favorite so far closely followed by Fallout 3 - both with millions of mods) but so far it indeed is very good. I guess the fanpatches really worked miracles on the game and I can almost do to much... ^^
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| 8 DEC 2009 at 6:58pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2548
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | I love Oblvion too, my OB install is many many Gb. and i love it.
Gothic is another type of world but very fun and very detailed...lots to see and do and the quests are complex and there are many of em.
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| 8 DEC 2009 at 8:29pm |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 595
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | OK I've decided to attempt Gothic 3. I'm currently downloading the v.173 community patch, are there any others I require?
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 9 DEC 2009 at 1:26pm |
SpiritogreIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 81
Joined: 30 SEP 2008
Location: DE
Status : Offline | There is a Questpack 4.
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| 9 DEC 2009 at 7:17pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Fnord (27 NOV 2009 6:14am)
Thanks for the ranged weapon advice. It's a good thing that switching between ranged and mêlée weapons is as easy as hitting a single key
While that group of wolves got stuck in the river (creatures seem to get stuck in water when they try to attack), their friends on the beach were sadly waiting for me to get out of there.
And it's incredible how much a pair of sack pants can protect you in that game. Got my first piece of armour, and suddenly I don't fear small woodland creatures anymore.
*edit*
Got a bit further, and I must say that i was really surprised by what I found. During night time in the old camp I found a band playing a rock cover based on a medieval Swedish ballad named Her Mannelig. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herr_Mannelig
I could not find the gothic version on youtube, but this is what the melody sounds like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWY6GMYgGjI (this version is much softer, and you can actually hear what most of the words are supposed to be, although it is in Swedish (the version in gothic is also in Swedish, although it sounds like it's a German band playing it, as their Swedish is far from perfect).
Fnord, I've kept wanting to thank you for linking to Herr Mannelig..-it's wonderful! What a perfect song for a medieval-style RPG, don't you think? Hmm- I think I might just have married the troll for those gifts of hers, they certainly seem very useful, especially that sword... pity the shirt isn't magic that makes you invulnerable..
Here is one with visuals from G3... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7mcEG69asU&feature=related
I actually feel like seeing if I can find some old gamesaves, so I can find that nice li'l easter egg - where exactly in the game does this happen?
Hey, and here is a different version of it, sung by someone else.. - I wonder in which language this one is - can you tell? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_erNGdfJfA&feature=fvw
Btw, if this is part of the LOTR special edition bundle pack, I think this is what might just convince me to buy it... 8-) I've been vaccilating, as it is quite pricey...
It seems to be quite a popular song, btw... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQhJu3NJrRM&feature=related
Oh, and i found a version similar to the version that Fnord had linked to, with lyrics added, though the sound quality is not as good as the one that Fnord had linked to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn-0eIgey-s
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