The Videogames Thread

[Jaxtile]

Go go Starcraft MLG!

Pro.majorleaugegaming.com/live/sc2_blue

[The Anti-Targ]

Ah, to be playing BG2 for the first time again. Even back in the day that was a long game. I remember thinking I was close to the end, but it turned out there was at least 1/3 of the game left.

So, five hours down. That means you've only got about 70-80 or so left. Maybe a bit more. Savor it.

Will we ever see a genuine DnD RPG of it's like again? As much as I enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins "Spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate" is an undeserved accolade. Neverwinter Nights 2 is the closest thing since BG2 I think.

[Lyanna Stark]

One weird thing is the game seems to lag strangely during battles...my PC specs should be more than enough to run a 10+ year old game.

Yep, I have the same. Especially the ToB expansion I can't run at all. The larger battles just freeze up the computer completely. It runs a bit better on XP than Vista, but both should be way way over what the game needs. I tried a couple of tweaks but nothing seemed to fix the Vista issue. Unfortunately my XP install suffered from some corrupt files and I never managed to reinstall it again there.

Let me know if you find a tweak that works. :)

[Jon AS]

Will we ever see a genuine DnD RPG of it's like again? As much as I enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins "Spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate" is an undeserved accolade. Neverwinter Nights 2 is the closest thing since BG2 I think.

Well, DA was a lot better than Neverwinter Nights 2, the only 'advantage' the latter had as far as being a "spiritual successor" was the use of the D&D rules and the Forgotten Realms setting. Characters, story, storytelling, level design... I'd give DA the edge in pretty much any category that counts when compared to NWN2. Though Mask of the Betrayer was pretty cool.

ETA: RE: BG2 lagging. You could try disabling hardware acceleration in video settings and stuff like that. I have a vague memory of Torment acting up in some fashion when I replayed it a few years ago, and fiddling around with that eventually fixed it. It's not like the game requires modern day video cards, your processor should be capable of handling everything by itself.

[The Anti-Targ]

Well, DA was a lot better than Neverwinter Nights 2, the only 'advantage' the latter had as far as being a "spiritual successor" was the use of the D&D rules and the Forgotten Realms setting. Characters, story, storytelling, level design... I'd give DA the edge in pretty much any category that counts when compared to NWN2. Though Mask of the Betrayer was pretty cool.

Probably because I played DA on PS3 rather than PC, which is what it should be played on. So NWN2 felt like a better game. And I played online with my brother which gave it a special feel too.

[Lyanna Stark]

Yep, DA was definitely more of a spiritual follow-up to BG2 than anything else that has been made. I am happy DA has done as well as it has, since it seemed to be conventional wisdom for years that real RPGs were too hard to make and too expensive to be considered a worthwhile investment for any gaming producers.

[Kosciuszko]

Try looking up some mods for BG2 if you're having issues running it. I know that some are meant to try to make it run more smoothly on modern systems.

Anyway, replaying Final Fantasy XIII. I still really like this game. For me it's definitely on par with the average Final Fantasy, it just isn't a killer like 4/6/9 were for me.

[SamanthaofHodorsfield]

I think one of the major problems with FXIII is that is follows XII. XII was pretty much an open world; you could explore and venture into areas you really weren't supposed to venture into at the level you were at (I still have memories of banzaiing it through the Necrohol to get the Zodiac Spear at about level 28 or so), and then with XIII it is very linear. Nothing wrong with that, it's just a different style of game. FFX was very linear as well; railroading you along until the very end when you got the airship. So had XIII followed X, people probably wouldn't have whinged as much about the linearity of the areas.

All that said I still enjoyed it. Though the final boss did my twig with it's instant-death ability. Which moron of a dev decides it's a good idea to put instant death on a boss on a game where if your lead party member dies, it's game over? Pffft. And the grinding. Gods the grinding. But I want those trophies. I will platinum on this game if it kills me. Which it might because doing those c'ieth stone missions again and again to get 5 stars on all of them is just urgh. :D

But yeah, despite the travesty that was X-2, I'm quite looking forward to XIII-2. XIII was a good story, good characters (albeit a couple of annoying ones). Not up there with the best FFs, but it wasn't the pile of shite people claim it to be.

On a totally unrelated note, I just don't know what to do about Skyrim. Do I wait for the GOTY edition that'll have the add-ons as part of the game, or buy on release and add the add-ons/expansions as they're released? Really don't know. With Morrowind I bought them as they were released, with Oblivion I held out for the GOTY. So I've done it both ways. What are you guys doing? GOTY or release?

[Humble Asskicker]

Anyway, replaying Final Fantasy XIII. I still really like this game. For me it's definitely on par with the average Final Fantasy, it just isn't a killer like 4/6/9 were for me.

I've been trying to go through FF 13 too, seeing as how it's pretty much the only FF game aside from 10-2 I haven't played to completion. But fuck if I don't want to punch something just looking at Snow. And Hope. And Sahz. And Vanilla. The worst collection of protagonists in a game...ever.

Even worse is that the game is annoyingly time-consuming. I play RPGs for the story. With the FF games up to 9 I could just input cheats to power up my characters and avoid any random battles, making the games 100 times more enjoyable. With FF 10 and 12 I would just overpower my characters to the point where the proceeding enemies become incredibly simple, then put save points up right before story events so I didn't have to wade through dozens of tedious battles.

Unfortunately with FF 13, this is not so easy because of the level cap for most of the game. And even if you are overpowered, bosses still can be time consuming.

I don't think I'm going to complete FF 13 this time either. It's a terrible game. Pretty, but terrible.

I think one of the major problems with FXIII is that is follows XII. XII was pretty much an open world; you could explore and venture into areas you really weren't supposed to venture into at the level you were at (I still have memories of banzaiing it through the Necrohol to get the Zodiac Spear at about level 28 or so), and then with XIII it is very linear. Nothing wrong with that, it's just a different style of game. FFX was very linear as well; railroading you along until the very end when you got the airship. So had XIII followed X, people probably wouldn't have whinged as much about the linearity of the areas.

Another problem is that FF 12 had, like, a good story. The best in the entire series aside from FFT. FF 13 clearly went the other way on that approach too.

[NW Deserter]

I pretty much always wait for the GOTY editions of games. I haven't bought a game at release since God of War 2 for the PS2 I think.

[SamanthaofHodorsfield]

I've been trying to go through FF 13 too, seeing as how it's pretty much the only FF game aside from 10-2 I haven't played to completion. But fuck if I don't want to punch something just looking at Snow. And Hope. And Sahz. And Vanilla. The worst collection of protagonists in a game...ever.

I'm with you in regards to Snow. He just cheesed me off. I rather liked Hope though, though I can understand why people might not have liked him. Vanille I'm not too fussed about. Her voice annoys me, but that's a VA issue rather than a story writing/characterisation issue. Sazh I also liked. The dinky chocobo was a little weird, even when it got an explanation as to why it was there, it was still weird. To be honest, I think the only character I seriously disliked is Snow. He just needed smacking with the likeability stick a few times over.

Unfortunately with FF 13, this is not so easy because of the level cap for most of the game. And even if you are overpowered, bosses still can be time consuming.

I don't think it's about your level though, but rather strategy, using the right paradigms and all that, whereas much of FFXII I could just bitchslap my way through after I overleveled myself. Actually, now that I think about it, I think the entire last battle was fought using gambits; I just sat back and watched. lol. What did annoy me about the crystarium cap/level cap was that most of the monsters roaming Gran Pulse were beyond you until you'd completed the game and opened up the next level. It made levelling up/grinding in that area a total PITA when I first arrived in the area and was getting owned by every monster that so much as looked at me. That was just bad thinking on the devs level. I'm all for marks/c'ieth stones/espers whatever, to add challenges that require some uber-levelling, but not smack bang in an area I'm underlevelled, and not to mention, stuck in.

Another problem is that FF 12 had, like, a good story. The best in the entire series aside from FFT. FF 13 clearly went the other way on that approach too.

FFT was epic. Love that game. A total and utter classic. And FFXIII did have a good story, imo, though obviously, mileage will vary.

[NW Deserter]

FFT excelled in both story and deep, fulfilling gameplay, something few other games really did for me. Man that was (and still is) a damn good game.

[Fez]

I liked the story and characters of FF XIII, problem is I'm stuck at the top of that tower in chapter (11?) its the first open world chapter. I didn't do any grinding or many of those side quests and the fact that I had trouble with some of the enemies in the tower should have been a sign that I was underleveled, but there had been no grinding up to then and I didn't want to start. I eventually reached that boss and it handed me my ass several times. I probably need to grind for 4-6 hours and that holds absolutely no interest for me*, so I just stopped playing.

*Grinding was okay in the PS1 era, I remember grinding for hours in FF IX in that marsh at the beginning until I was level 9 or so and had no trouble for the entirety of disc 1, but I was younger and had less to do. These days, its not for me.

[Kosciuszko]

Even worse is that the game is annoyingly time-consuming. I play RPGs for the story. With the FF games up to 9 I could just input cheats to power up my characters and avoid any random battles, making the games 100 times more enjoyable. With FF 10 and 12 I would just overpower my characters to the point where the proceeding enemies become incredibly simple, then put save points up right before story events so I didn't have to wade through dozens of tedious battles.

Unfortunately with FF 13, this is not so easy because of the level cap for most of the game. And even if you are overpowered, bosses still can be time consuming.

I don't think I'm going to complete FF 13 this time either. It's a terrible game. Pretty, but terrible.

I almost never had to grind my first time through 13. In fact I'd say I spent way less time playing 13 than a number of other superior JRPGs (Persona 3 and 4 come to mind, though I didn't grind levels in 4 either).

Pretty much this:

I don't think it's about your level though, but rather strategy, using the right paradigms and all that, whereas much of FFXII I could just bitchslap my way through after I overleveled myself. Actually, now that I think about it, I think the entire last battle was fought using gambits; I just sat back and watched. lol. What did annoy me about the crystarium cap/level cap was that most of the monsters roaming Gran Pulse were beyond you until you'd completed the game and opened up the next level. It made levelling up/grinding in that area a total PITA when I first arrived in the area and was getting owned by every monster that so much as looked at me. That was just bad thinking on the devs level. I'm all for marks/c'ieth stones/espers whatever, to add challenges that require some uber-levelling, but not smack bang in an area I'm underlevelled, and not to mention, stuck in.

[The Anti-Targ]

Yep, DA was definitely more of a spiritual follow-up to BG2 than anything else that has been made. I am happy DA has done as well as it has, since it seemed to be conventional wisdom for years that real RPGs were too hard to make and too expensive to be considered a worthwhile investment for any gaming producers.

It is why you see a shed-load of me-too FPS cames coming out on a monthly basis as opposed to RPGs. The reason DA did well was in no small part to the fact that the RPG market hasn't been saturated (well perhaps the JRPG market has, but not the Western Elves, Dwarves and Goblins RPG)

I still think NWN2 has it over DA in a number of areas, one of which is character variety. I really enjoyed playing as a Warlock with a bit of Blackguard thrown in (Blacklock build), something completely different, with cool powers and abilities. Only real problem with NWN2 was my laptop could barely manage to run the thing and it took up to 3 minutes to load area transisitons some times, including moving from outside into a sho or inn. If I'd had a better PC on which to play the game I would have done more plays through NWN2 than I have DA:O. Mostly doing additional DA:O plays for the trophies.

[NW Deserter]

Well not only is BG2 deep and fun, it's pretty damn tough too. I'm stuck at this one part where I've died like 5 times in a row...you really have to think out your strategies and stuff for this

[Werthead]

One weird thing is the game seems to lag strangely during battles...my PC specs should be more than enough to run a 10+ year old game.

Have you disabled 3D acceleration? Modern graphic cards don't work too well with the Infinity Engine, and either don't work at all (leaving nice purple squares whenever a spell is cast, as I experienced on my IWD replay recently until I switched it off) or go into ludicrous slowdown. Given that the 2D spell effects are perfectly serviceable, the simplest thing to do is to disable hardware acceleration.

Will we ever see a genuine DnD RPG of it's like again? As much as I enjoyed Dragon Age: Origins "Spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate" is an undeserved accolade. Neverwinter Nights 2 is the closest thing since BG2 I think.

BioWare have said no. If they made another BG2-style game, it would have to be 3D, and creating the 3D art assets for a game the size of BG2 would be utterly crippling in budget and time. In fact, it probably wouldn't be far off what they've done with The Old Republic, without the added cash revenue of being an online game that makes TOR viable.

However, Obsidian have said they'd be happy making IWD3, and would possibly even consider making it in an unpdated version of the Infinity Engine (i.e., still in 2D). If people can overlook the lack of flashy wow graphics, and I think enough would, especially with the European fanbase on board, then that could work out. In fact, there's no logical reason whatsoever why a modern 2D game would not be successful, considering that the budget and development time for it would be tiny compared to a full 3D title and comparatively fewer copies would need to be sold to turn a profit.

I am happy DA has done as well as it has, since it seemed to be conventional wisdom for years that real RPGs were too hard to make and too expensive to be considered a worthwhile investment for any gaming producers.

The problem is that EA didn't get this. After DA was a huge success with its PC-centric nature, more complex battle system and more 'old-school' approach, they basically ordered BioWare to churn out a rush-released sequel that promptly abandoned most of the things that made DA a huge success, resulting in a backlash from the fanbase that was really quite shocking, given BioWare's popularity. When BioWare said they'd learned from that mistake and that a third DA would be more like the first one, I hope they were being accurate.

[Werthead]

Oh yeah, Paradox are making a Mount and Blade clone set during the Wars of the Roses. Which I will put in bold since it's a mouthwatering prospect if they actually pull it off. Though the comparisons to Modern Warfare and Gears of War seem a little forced.

[Swift]

Dragon Age was super fantastics. I have a copy of Baulder's Gate 2 and Ice Wind Dale that I want to play, but I never start them because I am afraid that I will fall and live and won't be able to get important life things done.

When I play a game past the first play through, the reason is almost always because of gameplay. I beat Dragon Age four or five times just because I absolutely loved it. One of my favorite play through was four shield and board warriors. It was interesting.

[Durckad]

However, Obsidian have said they'd be happy making IWD3, and would possibly even consider making it in an unpdated version of the Infinity Engine (i.e., still in 2D). If people can overlook the lack of flashy wow graphics, and I think enough would, especially with the European fanbase on board, then that could work out. In fact, there's no logical reason whatsoever why a modern 2D game would not be successful, considering that the budget and development time for it would be tiny compared to a full 3D title and comparatively fewer copies would need to be sold to turn a profit.

IMO, the Infinity Engine is better looking than most 3D, isometric engines of today.

The difference was especially noticeable back when NWN and NWN2 came out. The game world transitioned from beautiful, handcrafted (if a bit pixillated) backgrounds and sprites to blocky, repetitive polygons and character models. Granted, DA is a pretty nice looking game, mostly, but the copy-and-paste nature of the environments is pretty damn noticeable at times. I guess this is the tradeoff we have to accept if we still want RPG's of this size, though.