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"Phil Cook" <phi### [at] nospamrocain freeservecouk> wrote:
> And lo on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:25:29 +0100, bluetree <nomail@nomail> did
> spake, saying:
>
> > "Phil Cook" <phi### [at] nospamrocainfreeservecouk> wrote:
> >> And lo on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 19:30:48 +0100, bluetree <nomail@nomail> did
> >> spake, saying:
> >>
> >> I still play SoulReaver. In ranking terms I put it on the same plinth
> >> as Deus Ex, System Shock and Baldur's Gate.
> >>
> >> SoulReaver 2 was more of a let-down for me
> >>
> >> I enjoyed Blood Omen 1, and 2 was fun if disjointed
> >>
> >> Defiance was a bit of a mixed bag for me, but it was enjoyable how the
> >> different timelines of the two characters linked up play-wise.
> >
> > That's true. I also like SoulReaver 1 more than 2 and it's the same with
> > playing-atmosphere of Blood Omen.
>
> To an extent SoulReaver spoiled a lot of games for me - level loading,
> transport loading; what are they? The fact that you can just travel
> around, that new areas you might not even have realised existed become
> accessible when you gain extra abilities, the whole Spectral Realm shift,
> and of course the storytelling; they're all still something that other
> games should be looking up to and trying to emulate.
Indeed.
And they really try, but put the accent on "try".
I haven't played Super Paper Mario, but I read something about it.
Shifting between 2D and 3D to elude barriers, finding hidden doors...
Ok, but there is no game, which really reaches SR standards. :-)
> > To be able to play both characters in Defiance helped a lot against
> > boredom, because you could develop "different" skills at Raziel and
> > Kain. Changing times and seeing the places intact and in ruins was very
> > fascinating.
>
> It gave a good feeling of depth across time, Prince of Persia: WW managed
> to catch it too.
>
> > I only get confused, when I tried to understand the whole story of the
> > series.
> > Because of time travels and paradoxes, which makes all things too
> > complicated.
> > ^^
>
> Don't we all :-) It's nice to have a story that doesn't try to hide the
> paradoxes though, but instead has the main story be a paradox (trying not
> to give too much away here). Even that offshoot BO2 adds a tang with a
> entire world of what if.
It also doesn't help, that the games publishing dates and their "true" order
don't fit.
I can't find the page anymore, but they made a "logical" (as far as paradoxes
are logical ^^) timeline and also ordered the games that way: BO, SR, SR2,
Defiance, BO2...
Difiance's open end let me hope of another part (perhaps to get a spiritlike
Raziel back (I started with that character, so I'd like to play it again :-)
)), but then playing BO2 a second time *after* Defiance, I could bury that
hope.
> > But I'm a big fan of it. It's really a pity, that it ends with Janos
> > Audron falling into the abyss.
>
> But that was BO2 and thus declared non-canon ;-)
I should search that special site again... ;-)
> > (What's with Raziel? :-) I started to play with
> > SoulReaver 1, the reason to buy it, was that its cover was glittering and
> > changing perspective (both worlds). After that game I began to love the
> > series and bought the other games.)
>
> I think at the time I was just looking for a game that wasn't a tired
> re-tread of Doom and Quake, or C&C and this stood out.
So you also acquired a taste after buying it by accident?
> > One thing would be great: A remake of SoulReaver 1 and BloodOmen 1 with
> > nowadays games graphics. *dreamlike*
>
> To be honest I think that's all they'd need - higher resolution textures
> plus bump mapping and a larger polygon count; the engine itself was fine
> if it could be modified to handle that.
Me too. Just a nice better looking environment for BO and SR... it's all they
need.
> Still my favourite thing to do - shift to the Spectral Realm close to a
> return point while holding a weapon then shifting back to the Material
> Realm and watching the weapon fall to the ground.
>
> Most shocking thing - shifting to the SR and watching a Slough or the like
> fade in right next to you :-)
LOL
I loved to set the other vampires on fire (don't think I'm savage!). Nice
walking matchsticks...
Better them than me!
And worst enemy? I hated the spirits of former pillar guardians.
bluetree
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Phil Cook wrote:
> that new areas you might not even have realised existed become
> accessible when you gain extra abilities,
That was one of the things I liked about Thief. The harder levels
weren't "people are harder to hurt" or "health is less healing". The
harder levels were almost different games, with different/additional
goals and access to different places.
I remember looking for the hard loot on the easy setting in the zombie
crypts one time (having played the game through several times and now
just wanting to basically look something up), wandering around for about
half an hour before I realized it Wasn't There. (Thief levels are big
enough and complex enough that it's not always obvious you've gotten
where you think you have, even after having played a number of times.)
Not unlike how Deus Ex gives you at least two ways to solve every problem.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Helpful housekeeping hints:
Check your feather pillows for holes
before putting them in the washing machine.
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bluetree wrote:
> And did you enjoy it?
> You didn't get itching fingers and wanted to kill some hordes of monsters? ^^
I haven't bought it yet. I played the first level of each game as a
demo, and I've watched the speed runs (usually while doing exercise).
> There is no notarget mode in TES series (ok, they are also no FPS, but FP-RPG,
> if you like to play that way [and I like it!]), but to enjoy the environment it
> just needs some invisibility spells).
> Have you tried that kind of RPG or do you prefer FPS?
I'm not sure what TES is. I'm into anything with a good story, from Myst
to Thief to HL. Otherwise, just slaying horsed of monsters doesn't hold
my attention.
Regular changes of scenery help.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Helpful housekeeping hints:
Check your feather pillows for holes
before putting them in the washing machine.
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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> That was one of the things I liked about Thief. The harder levels
> weren't "people are harder to hurt" or "health is less healing". The
> harder levels were almost different games, with different/additional
> goals and access to different places.
Thief 2 was the same. Harder difficulty level meant, for example,
"you can't kill anyone" and "you have to collect more loot", instead
of the classical (and way more boring) enemies have more health and
make more damage.
Thief 3 tried a similar concept, but IMO didn't succeed so well.
The goals (which change with the difficulty level) were all the same
in all levels, instead of being level-specific like in Thief 2. This
made it a bit less interesting.
> Not unlike how Deus Ex gives you at least two ways to solve every problem.
I'm currently playing Rainbow Six: Vegas. It often has the same kind
of non-linearity in that you are not necessarily restrained to one single
path along one single corridor, but often you can choose several ways of
passing the level. For example, some levels might consist of a big two-story
room which you can enter from no less than 6 different doors, located at
different parts of the room, both at the lower and the upper level. You
can look behind the door with a snake cam and estimate which door would
be the best to enter and clear the room.
And forget about simply storming in the room and shoot everything that
moves. If you do that, you are dead. You have to be more tactical than
that. You die very easily in this game, from just a few shots (if the
enemy can aim at your head, you'll die from a single shot). Curiously
there's no life bar: You can just take a few hits and you are dead.
However, you recuperate in some tens of seconds. This works pretty well.
And death really is a penalty in this game, and you really don't want
to die. If you die, you'll have to restart the level (or from the last
automatic auto-saving checkpoint in that level). You can't save anywhere
besides the checkpoing auto-saves. At first this seems like it sucks a lot,
but in fact it works very well, IMO. As said, it makes death truely a
penalty, so strong in fact, that you'll do whatever it takes to not to
die. This induces you to play tactically and carefully, which is the
whole point in the game.
Some people might not like the lack of being able to save the game,
but it works very well for me at least.
Ah, and you have two sidekicks who are, in fact, very helpful and
basically never get in your way on their own (you *can* shoot them,
but you'll have to deliberately aim at them or deliberately locate
yourself so that they are in the line of fire). You can command the
sidekicks to follow you or go to a certain place (aim towards the place
and press space). The sidekicks can take care of themselves pretty well
(ie. you don't have to babysit them at all), although they can also die
if you carelessly send them into heavy crossfire. They are also excellent
at watching your back while your attention is on something else (eg.
examining the other side of a door with a snake cam). It works surprisingly
well.
--
- Warp
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On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:57:49 EDT, "bluetree" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
>
>^^
>we are time's subjects
>(same author)
>
I have heard the clock chime 24:00 :)
>You are really lost in Elizabethan time. :P
>
Yes but remember she is still around :)
>
>That shows: They really loved their job.
>Thinking of 86 minutes!!!
>
~ 1720 days or more O_O
--
Regards
Stephen
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Warp wrote:
> Thief 2 was the same. Harder difficulty level meant, for example,
> "you can't kill anyone" and "you have to collect more loot", instead
> of the classical (and way more boring) enemies have more health and
> make more damage.
I think there were also additional goals in T2 in harder levels, like
finding specific bits of "loot", or tracking down specific people. Like,
in planting the evidence, you not only have to Frame cop #1, but also
find out what cop #2 is up to. (For people unfamiliar with the game -
obviously I'm not addressing you particularly, Warp. :-)
> Thief 3 tried a similar concept, but IMO didn't succeed so well.
> The goals (which change with the difficulty level) were all the same
> in all levels, instead of being level-specific like in Thief 2. This
> made it a bit less interesting.
I haven't bought this since there was no demo and the specs on the box
made it sound like my machine wouldn't run it, but now I see a PC demo
level out there, so I'll give it a try.
>> Not unlike how Deus Ex gives you at least two ways to solve every problem.
>
> I'm currently playing Rainbow Six: Vegas.
Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the heads up! I'll check it out.
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Helpful housekeeping hints:
Check your feather pillows for holes
before putting them in the washing machine.
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Stephen <mcavoysAT@aolDOTcom> wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:57:49 EDT, "bluetree" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
>
> >
> >^^
> >we are time's subjects
> >(same author)
> >
>
> I have heard the clock chime 24:00 :)
BYP
? Now?
Is it a proverb or do you think of getting home fast, before there are mice and
pumpkins? :-)
> >You are really lost in Elizabethan time. :P
> >
>
> Yes but remember she is still around :)
Like buildings and holidays?
Nothing that hurts, doesn't it?
> >
> >That shows: They really loved their job.
> >Thinking of 86 minutes!!!
> >
> ~ 1720 days or more O_O
> --
>
> Regards
> Stephen
They have been very patient. I'm not sure, if I would hate clay after that time.
the smell... (as it did smell)
the consistence...
hrrr
:-D
Imagine. If you'd do that everyday, it could get easy routine.
Going into bath room, you'd change the soaps shape.
Eating breakfast, your bread forms a figure itself, your hands are just helping
its form to "come out".
Looking into faces, you have to stop your hands not to give them a smile, by
modelling their jowls.
:-D
There could be a lot more very sensitive situations...
bluetree
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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> I haven't bought this since there was no demo and the specs on the box
> made it sound like my machine wouldn't run it, but now I see a PC demo
> level out there, so I'll give it a try.
> > I'm currently playing Rainbow Six: Vegas.
> Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the heads up! I'll check it out.
Note that it has relatively high specs. Shader v3 or higher required.
(IMO it doesn't look all that great compared to shader v2 games, such
as the HL2 episodes. Sometimes I feel that nowadays many game companies
just use shader v3 because they can, not because it would improve the
image quality significantly...)
--
- Warp
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"Darren New" <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote in message
news:48691acf@news.povray.org...
> I'm not sure what TES is.
The Elder Scrolls. Series of RPGs from Bethesda. The earlier ones were
notoriously buggy, but they've got better.
Of the to I've played - Morrowind and Oblivion, I prefered Morrowind. The
story in Oblivions didn't feel quite as compelling and I was getting quite
tired of it towards the end.
> I'm into anything with a good story, from Myst
> to Thief to HL. Otherwise, just slaying horsed of monsters doesn't hold
> my attention.
You may enjoy the Elder Scrolls series. You should be able to pick up
Morrowind cheapish. Be warned, the game world is huge and it's very open.
Once you get through the character creation, you can go anywhere and do
anything. It's easy to get in over your head and it's easy to get confused
as to where to go and what to do.
Oblivion's much the same, but the game world is a little smaller (not much).
If you decide to play Oblivion, there's a few mods that I consider
near-essential for a fun game. Bethesda made some odd decisions about how
things work by default.
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On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:27:47 EDT, "bluetree" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
>Stephen <mcavoysAT@aolDOTcom> wrote:
>> On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:57:49 EDT, "bluetree" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >^^
>> >we are time's subjects
>> >(same author)
>> >
>>
>> I have heard the clock chime 24:00 :)
>
>BYP
>? Now?
>Is it a proverb or do you think of getting home fast, before there are mice and
>pumpkins? :-)
>
Oh! I misquoted :(
The proper quote is "We have heard the chimes at midnight" It means
that we are old :)
>
>> >You are really lost in Elizabethan time. :P
>> >
>>
>> Yes but remember she is still around :)
>
>Like buildings and holidays?
>Nothing that hurts, doesn't it?
>
No, for us Brits this is the Elizabethan age. Albeit the second :)
>> >
>> >That shows: They really loved their job.
>> >Thinking of 86 minutes!!!
>> >
>> ~ 1720 days or more O_O
>> --
>>
>> Regards
>> Stephen
>
>They have been very patient. I'm not sure, if I would hate clay after that time.
>the smell... (as it did smell)
>the consistence...
>hrrr
>:-D
>Imagine. If you'd do that everyday, it could get easy routine.
>Going into bath room, you'd change the soaps shape.
LOL
>Eating breakfast, your bread forms a figure itself, your hands are just helping
>its form to "come out".
>Looking into faces, you have to stop your hands not to give them a smile, by
>modelling their jowls.
>:-D
>There could be a lot more very sensitive situations...
>
Stop before they take you away :)
>
--
Regards
Stephen
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