Video Games

[JonSetanta]

Advice:

The damage formula for most attacks is WP*AP.
The damage formula for monk attacks is WP*WP*Brave.

Use Ramza's brave boost ability (it gives him +4 Brave this fight, but +1 Brave PERMANENTLY) to level it up in battles. Get it to like 90+, or as high as you have patience to make it go. Then see how super easy it is to stack WP. You can get +3 from accessories, more from armor, more from hats, etc. But Martial Arts on a ninja and laugh as Ramza one-shots everything.

Cool, I'll do that. Gonna kick that zodiac ass next time I see him. Also, no problems yet, since I've given everyone a spellcaster list thanks to the JP glitch cheat (select a spell, hold square button to scroll down or up, buy another spell.. bam, 9999 JP)
It saves time and a lot of grinding. Practically everyone is a warrior/caster with dual wield.

[Zinegata]

ME2 is much superior compared to ME1.

[Ganbare Gincun]

I have to say, I'm not terribly happy with the trailer. It just doesn't make much sense. "Reports are coming in from all major cities" wait, isn't the bit where several dreadnoughts, carriers, and associated battlegroups are dead a pretty clear sign of how badly you are screwed?

The character in the trailer mentions how the bulk of their forces are "regrouping". Any Alliance Navy forces in the system probably left before the Reapers even arrived, lest they get wiped out instantly by their superior numbers and firepower.

[Blicero]

As Severian mentioned, Bioware is notorious (at least recently) for making really shitty trailers for games that still manage to be pretty good. See: the Jack preview for ME2, pretty much anything for Dragon Age, etc. As such, I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic.

I will say this, though: I find it highly ironic that the main story for ME3 (gathering allies for a final battle that probably won't be very exciting) seems likely to be extremely similar to that of Dragon Age, and DA2 seems likely to play as "Mass Effect 2 with guns."

EDIT: As PL kindly pointed out, my comment should've read "...and DA2 seems likely to play as "Mass Effect 2 WITHOUT guns."

[PhoneLobster]

and DA2 seems likely to play as "Mass Effect 2 with guns."

For a minute there I thought "surely he means WITHOUT guns?" then I thought "wait it's bioware, he might mean exactly what he says, fuckin' bioware..."

But really that can only be an improvement. I mean I thought Mass Effect was a boring piece of crap. But DA2 being based off Mass Effect style play instead of DA style play can only make it infinitely better because I lack words for how incredibly bad DA was. I have whiped my but with better gaming experiences, I cannot imagine what sort of warped uncritical fan boy lacking a life someone must be to "enjoy" DA. I mean what have you never experienced the joy of smashing yourself in the face with a hammer? AT LEAST THATS MORE FUN THAN DA!!!!

[Blicero]

And here is where we disagree, PL, as I really did enjoy Dragon Age. It was by no means a perfect game, and it suffered from many of the flaws that have become endemic to Bioware games. But I found the tactical combat legitimately compelling in a way that no other Bioware game has been since Baldur's Gate II (even when you factor in how much easier the game becomes when you learn Cone of Cold).

While the main plot (or lack thereof) did indeed suck total monkeyass, the individual stories you encountered while doing the regional quests were fun and engaging.

I saw DA as the game that represented Bioware putting to use everything they've learned since their inception. Even before I knew anything about DA2, I suspected DA might be the last partybased tactical RPG Bioware ever did, just from how it felt.

Mass Effect (1) and I had our differences. But, as far as BW games go, it was a lot better than, say Neverwinter Nights. And I really like the world it created moreso than nearly any other soft sf setting I've encountered. And it set the stage for ME2, which was simply a triumph.

[PhoneLobster]

Well hey if you LIKE derivative crap then I can imagine you might like the most extremely derivative extremely crap crap there is.

But Mass Effeects "created world" was a nonsensical and boring flavourless star wars rip off made because they lost the rights to create Knights of the Old Republic 3 and if you think otherwise you are a Fan Boy in giant fan boy blinkers.

DA had NO actual tactical game play to appreciate. There were no tactics, it was utterly midndless and above all else ANNOYING shit when if came to the actual dynamics of combat. The main plot WAS horridly bad, but so too were the "Stop saving the world and take this note to the guy standing over there, you can do so in a nice or an evil way!" side quests were SHIT.

Bioware's games started poorly and have snowballed to terrible. The only brief spark of anything good was Knights Of The Old Republic and I assume that was by accident.

The people who LIKE DA and Mass effect are, I'm sorry, but drooling fan boys. When asked they can rarely ever produce a single good point about the game and instead recite the SAME litany of faults as the critics of those same terrible terrible games. They just declare that they inexplicably love the game despite it's faults or declare some of the faults to be virtues without explanation as to what the hell that insanity is all about.

Their attitude is that of an abused spouse, justifying a reason to love something that does not deserve it, but which they feel the need to love for some unknown reason, maybe due to the lack of anything else?

And like I said. You COULD go stop sucking Bioware's warty old cock and have more fun smashing yourself in the face with a hammer instead...

[Blicero]

Oboy...

But Mass Effeects "created world" was a nonsensical and boring flavourless star wars rip off made because they lost the rights to create Knights of the Old Republic 3 and if you think otherwise you are a Fan Boy in giant fan boy blinkers.

Links. Proof. If that is just your suppositions, then here are mine:

Part I: The Story and Structure Thereof

Fact: Mass Effect's plot is exceedingly similar to that of KotOR.

I will not dispute this. But, oddly enough, I think that their similarity is what suggests they were never intended to be part of the same story. Both ME's and KotOR's stories are very much introductory stories: They're about your character finding his/her place in the world, blahblahblah. Also, they're set up with definite eyes to sequels. Whereas, in a game that is a continuation of a previous franchise (like ME2 or BGII), Bioware does not use that structure.

Conclusion: Mass Effect 1's story is a story of beginnings, not endings. This makes its origins as KotOR III at least somewhat implausible.

Part II: World

The Mass Effect universe is really not that similar to Star Wars or whatever. While the game's species have parallels to those of other pieces of entertainment, those parallels are generally found in fantasy fiction, not Star Wars.

The strength of the mythos is that it draws upon elements of classic and newish sf and fantasy and tries to integrate them into an at least vaguely plausible setting. It's a Reconstruction.

DA had NO actual tactical game play to appreciate. There were no tactics, it was utterly midndless and above all else ANNOYING shit when if came to the actual dynamics of combat.

Maybe we aren't just using the same definition of the word "tactics."

Here is what I see as valid uses of tactics in Dragon Age.

•Moving rogues into flanking positions for better stabination.
•Combining spell effects to do cool shit.
•Using movement and placement to control the flow of the battlefield.
•Stunning/slowing/debuffing major foes so you can work on their minions, or whatever.
•Etc.

Those seem like fairly decent options to me. They're certainly deeper than what's available in KotOR, ME, ME2, Neverwinter Nights, or an Elder Scrolls game.

Bioware's games started poorly and have snowballed to terrible. The only brief spark of anything good was Knights Of The Old Republic and I assume that was by accident.

Are you comparing them to any other cRPGs, or just your own idealized visions of how cRPGs should play? Now it may be that you have access to PhoneLobster's SooperDooperAwesomeSpeshulcRPG where EVERYTHING IS PERFECT (maybe it was only released in Australia or whatever), and Bioware games really just are that shitty in comparison.

But if that's not actually the case, I'd hafta say that Bioware is doing pretty decently: They're putting out games that are prettyish and fun to watch (some sporadic Uncanny Valley aside). Their games tend to play well enough to be enjoyable.

They are by no means perfekt, but I would most certainly play Mass Effect 2 than I would play CoD, and I'd choose Dragon Age over Oblivion any day.

[Kaelik]

or an Elder Scrolls game.

So you either don't play elder scrolls games, or you are one of those dicks who specifically equips a sword and armor, never casts spells or uses arrows or poisons, and then whines about how it's so one dimensional.

In either case. Fuck you.

However, I want to know if PL thinks BG II is crap too.

[Severian]

Bioware's games are like fast food. Cheesy and formulaic, and ultimately just empty calories. That said, the only games of theirs I've genuinely disliked are Dragon Age and Neverwinter Nights. The others were okay enough. BGII is the only game of theirs that really stands out, and that's probably because black isle helped them make it.

[Blicero]

or an Elder Scrolls game.

So you either don't play elder scrolls games, or you are one of those dicks who specifically equips a sword and armor, never casts spells or uses arrows or poisons, and then whines about how it's so one dimensional.

In either case. Fuck you.

I have played Morrowind extensively. I've beaten the main quest line, become the head of the mages, fighters, thieves, and assassins guild, and beaten all of the televanni quests. Among other things. So no, Kaelik, your assertions are all total bullshit. I know that fucking game.

And, having played it so much, I will tell you that 99% of the NPCs are generic cookiecutter versions of each other, the world feels like a fucking wax museum, the main plot was simplistic and generic, and combat was (regardless of class) monotonous as hell and also broken, as you could easily bind soulgems with massive damage spells into your weapons to kill anything. And most quests were hugely simplistic.

And there were cliff racers.

But what morrowind did right was provide a big world that genuinely induced a desire to go exploring, mostly because you could legitimately be surprised by whatever you found over that next hill. Still, the "game" portion was broken, boring, and more or less pointless.

Oblivion (which I will confess to not having played nearly as extensively, because it's boring) had slightly improved game mechanics (aside from the world that leveled with you) in exchange for a world that managed to be more boring and generic than the one in Dragon Age, which has to be worth some weird accomplishment or award. Oh, and it had that Radiant AI system that still failed to simulate a semicoherent gameworld and was filled with crazy AI malfunctions like people raking their floors.




So yeah. Bioware games may be on the linear side (because of course they need to fit on the baby consoles) and may tend toward the generic, but I would still pick BGII, ME2, or DA:O over Oblivion or Morrowind any day of the week.

[JonSetanta]

ME2 is much superior compared to ME1.

Noted, if I ever get an XBOX.

[TOZ]

Holy fuck, when did 360 guitar controllers become so damn expensive?

[Zinegata]

I actually liked Dragon Age's story and the setting. There's very much the "You're not a hero. You're a guardian." vibe throughout the whole thing which appealed to me.

Also, sigma, while I would (almost) recommend skipping ME entirely for ME2 if you haven't started, the continuity from your ME1 saved games to ME2 is a lot of fun.

[Maj]

The Humble Bundle {OK, Games, Donate} is back for those who are interested.

[Sarandosil]

I liked ME1 because it was a game where I could play a decently voiced, strong, non skimpy armored female lead who also didn't have a waist as wide as a single breast.

I guess that's not much, but I can't think of another game that does all of that aside from ME2.

[Kaelik]

or an Elder Scrolls game.

So you either don't play elder scrolls games, or you are one of those dicks who specifically equips a sword and armor, never casts spells or uses arrows or poisons, and then whines about how it's so one dimensional.

In either case. Fuck you.

I have played Morrowind extensively. I've beaten the main quest line, become the head of the mages, fighters, thieves, and assassins guild, and beaten all of the televanni quests. Among other things. So no, Kaelik, your assertions are all total bullshit. I know that fucking game.

And, having played it so much, I will tell you that 99% of the NPCs are generic cookiecutter versions of each other, the world feels like a fucking wax museum, the main plot was simplistic and generic, and combat was (regardless of class) monotonous as hell and also broken, as you could easily bind soulgems with massive damage spells into your weapons to kill anything. And most quests were hugely simplistic.

And there were cliff racers.

But what morrowind did right was provide a big world that genuinely induced a desire to go exploring, mostly because you could legitimately be surprised by whatever you found over that next hill. Still, the "game" portion was broken, boring, and more or less pointless.

Oblivion (which I will confess to not having played nearly as extensively, because it's boring) had slightly improved game mechanics (aside from the world that leveled with you) in exchange for a world that managed to be more boring and generic than the one in Dragon Age, which has to be worth some weird accomplishment or award. Oh, and it had that Radiant AI system that still failed to simulate a semicoherent gameworld and was filled with crazy AI malfunctions like people raking their floors.




So yeah. Bioware games may be on the linear side (because of course they need to fit on the baby consoles) and may tend toward the generic, but I would still pick BGII, ME2, or DA:O over Oblivion or Morrowind any day of the week.

I notice that exactly zero words in that entire spiel are about the tactics possible in Morrowind or Oblivion.

Great, you hate Morrowind and Oblivion. I don't care. I was pointing out that the tactics of Dragon Age are literally just "draw aggro with someone else, then get Rogue behind. Also stunclock." And Morrowind/Oblivion can actually do both those things, in addition to other things, so I guess they win the tactics award.

I don't care if you whine about the NPCs, but don't pretend that the NPCs being samey has anything to do with tactics.

[Zinegata]

Blicero->

Have to agree with you. Elder scrolls games were pretty abymal in terms of encouraging any tactical thinking.

That's why, in the case of Oblivion, a lot of 3rd party mods were introduced to make spellcasting more powerful (so it's at least a viable option) and to make sword fighting more than just "Block, Hack, Block, Hack". Oh, and some mods made the monsters a little smarter too.

All of these help make the game less broken and more fun to play.

You may want to try the OOO mod for Oblivion, as I've heard it brings the Oblivion experience considerably closer to Morrowind.

I liked ME1 because it was a game where I could play a decently voiced, strong, non skimpy armored female lead who also didn't have a waist as wide as a single breast.

I guess that's not much, but I can't think of another game that does all of that aside from ME2.

Jennifer Hale is simply an awesome voice actress too. She does inspiring speeches better than the male version of Shepard.

[A Hammer]

For a minute there I thought "surely he means WITHOUT guns?" then I thought "wait it's bioware, he might mean exactly what he says, fuckin' bioware..."

[PoliteNewb]

I'm still re-playing the first one for PS1. Did it back in high school, got stuck fighting the 4-armed zodiac demon guy since Ramza was a Black Mage and ran out of mana/I didn't level grind enough/only save file was right before the boss battle.

This time Ramza is a monk, I keep a backup save, and have been easily doing at least 10x more random encounters than story battles. I think the game was designed that way.

Easiest way I found to beat Velius (though a trifle tedious) was to run around from him during the battle while he's still a dude, using your Squire abilities to boost the crap out of your speed and attack power. Then one-shot him, and when he turns into the 4-armed demon, you still have your boosted stats, and should have 3-4 turns before he gets to go. Smack the shit out of him, you win.

If you don't have the patience for that, I find the Lich summon tends to have a good hit chance and awesome damage on Zodiac demons.

[Blicero]

I notice that exactly zero words in that entire spiel are about the tactics possible in Morrowind or Oblivion.

Great, you hate Morrowind and Oblivion. I don't care. I was pointing out that the tactics of Dragon Age are literally just "draw aggro with someone else, then get Rogue behind. Also stunclock." And Morrowind/Oblivion can actually do both those things, in addition to other things, so I guess they win the tactics award.

I don't care if you whine about the NPCs, but don't pretend that the NPCs being samey has anything to do with tactics.

You don't need any tactics, because the best option is simply to run at your enemy and start whacking them into they fall over. If you can paralyze them at some point, all the better for you, but it's rarely necessary.

Sure, you could be a mage and cast Burden spells at an enemy and then slowly pick them off or whatever, but you won't because it's never needed. If you can choose between a really complicated method and a simple one to induce stabination in a situation where both are equally efficacious, you will always choose the simple one unless you're just sating your curiosity, because that will end the battle faster so you can get back to the goddam metagame, which is what Morrowind is actually good at.

[PhoneLobster]

You don't need any tactics, because the best option is simply to run at your enemy and start whacking them into they fall over. If you can paralyze them at some point, all the better for you, but it's rarely necessary.

Odd. Because that is exactly what I was going to say about DA. Your casters all run suicidally at the enemy, drop every AoE in the house on them, ideally with at least one cone of cold, and if the enemy aren't dead when you run out of mana you mindlessly pew pew the last few HP off the survivors with whatever warriors/rogues (aka WASTES OF SKIN) the SHOCKINGLY BAD NPC selection of the game has FORCED DOWN YOUR THROAT.

Positioning is almost impossible, the clumsy real time engine makes what SHOULD have been a turn based system almost impossible to reasonably control, no one cares if Rogues get behind people because you didn't take those skills because they SUCK, you take other more universally useful skills that don't require you to use a positioning system so thoroughly broken and easily bypassed by fast moving unstoppable enemies with an obsessive and suicidal desire to mob the first guy they see...

You want deep tactical game play in an RPG, yes, even morriwind and CO beat that, even though they WERE very similar in that they used real time and fairly mindless suicidal rush enemies as well. At least THEY were first person Action games where the real time made a little sense as you hacked and slashed around with your mouse. And it seems Bethusda can actually envisage and create a real time combat engine that works and is playable.

I KNOW Bioware can make a moderately usable real time combat engine, they did it with Knights Of The Old Republic, I mean it was clearly a hack job that also should have been turn based, but it at least was workable. So it PAINS me to see them go so far backwards with Dragon Age, a game with a tacked on real time combat engine that is WORSE than every tacked on real time combat engine of EVERY variant Bioware has done before. I mean hey, you know, KoTOR, moderately acceptable RTS engine that SHOULD have been turn based better than Dragon Age, Mass Effect, bad RTS/FPS hybrid engine that SHOULD have been turn based better than Dragon Age, hell god damn Neverwinter Nights, bad RTS engine that REALLY should have been turn based better than Dragon Age.

But really if you want real tactical play you go play a damn turn based game. And for RPGs turn based is VERY much the way to be. Go turn over any console shaped rock you can find, look at all the verminous JRPGs that crawl out, all of them, even many of the worst of them have INFINITELY better tactical game play than DA. Point at a nameless grindy FF clone of the week, it has better tactical game play with a better interface.

Worse still many even relatively small name console games make it their mission in life to do innovative and interesting things with well balanced game play, unlike Bioware (who's strategy is to shovel cheap unrefined shit down the throats of Fan Boy's begging for ANYTHING they produce) the producers of many console RPGs actually rely on innovation and playability to make a niche in the market.

Have you ever played Grandia 2? Good lord Bioware could learn a lot from just that ONE game. Hell the mechanics are almost perfect for the shit Bioware wants to shovel. And infinitely better than the one in DA. And the game is 10 fucking years old.

These days if I want good tactical game play on an RPG, which not being an uncritical Fan Boy I definitely do, I find myself emulating tiny hand held gameboys and playing games like Pokemon and Shin Megami Tensei. Yeah that's right, the PC RPG market especially the dominant player Bioware, is so god damn bad that you get deeper more engaging game play from console games, often ones meant for children on a platform with a FRACTION of the control and processing capabilities.

I mean how fucking bad must Bioware be to do that? They could just be cloning Grandia 2 with their crappy westernized Lord of the Rings rip off dross and better graphics and they would be stomping that shit.

[Kaelik]

You don't need any tactics, because the best option is simply to run at your enemy and start whacking them into they fall over. If you can paralyze them at some point, all the better for you, but it's rarely necessary.

Sure, you could be a mage and cast Burden spells at an enemy and then slowly pick them off or whatever, but you won't because it's never needed. If you can choose between a really complicated method and a simple one to induce stabination in a situation where both are equally efficacious, you will always choose the simple one unless you're just sating your curiosity, because that will end the battle faster so you can get back to the goddam metagame, which is what Morrowind is actually good at.

So... because X is the easiest thing to do, requiring the least knowledge and thought and effort, therefore Y doesn't exist.

Never mind that Y is actually better than X for beating the game, and more tactical, and requires more thought. I built a character that blindly runs up and smashes, so that's All I Will Ever Do. And then complain about how there is only one thing to do.

I mean fuck, this is Morrowind. You could goddam levitate in that game. It had an actual flying system that actually worked, and it was beautiful.

Oblivion, fuck, if you think swording things is the optimal strategy in oblivion, you haven't played oblivion.

[Calibron]

Yeah, levitating and shooting a bow will let you kill things that would annihilate you at your current level, if there any left anyway, if you tried swording them to death.

[shau]

I liked morrowind, but it had shit for tactical combat. Seriously, chain buffing yourself with potions made you that much better than else tactics were meaningless. When you are so badass that the system can't even display your stats by the time you hit the second town, what you do in combat just doesn't matter. Hell, you don't even have to make potions. Just stockpiling liquor will throw you so far off the expected values that the game's your bitch at that point.

Or you can go with the item crafting system, and pull of shit like permanent invisibility or invulnerability to physical attacks. Or just do like I did and make a couple items that drop deadly fuck off spells when used and celebrate having a gun equivalent in a medieval world.