The Quiet Forum

[Pix]

Got tired of seeing that poor "Never" in this forum.

[Innocence]

Got tired of seeing that poor "Never" in this forum.

"Never" who?

[Shane Christopher]

"Never" who?

"Never" what?

[RonHiler]

You guys are teh funny

So what'cha all playing these days?

I'm playing DDO and Oblivion. Two *very* good games. Also two games that are major time sinks. You may blame them for any percieved lack of progress here. I have *nothing* to do with it

[Strike]

I took a couple stabs at Crawl recently..
Back to Diablo2 somehow, currently. Not sure why.
I've also got FF:Tactics sitting in my PS2 partway done, and the first .Hack game is beaten (although theres some places I can still go to do stuff, but in general I think it's game mechanics are lacking)

Thats about it for games, unless you count "playing" with hardware :/
Moving a boot-hard drive from one computer into another (into a Compaq, actually) isn't as easy as I want it to be -- finding the drivers for the Compaq gear isn't fun.

[Shane Christopher]

Playing Oblivion here too. Fantastic game. Bought it about a week ago. I've only stopped to play Empires, a mod for Halflife 2. Another great game. It combines RTS with FPS and it works really well. http://www.EmpiresMod.com

Oblivion still has me captivated though. I haven't done a single thing for the main story line yet. Both my and my housemate have just been playing through several guild contracts. He's managed to get into the thieves guild and then on into the Dark Brotherhood. You can even become a vampire.

[Innocence]

Uncanny - I installed and played Oblivion all Sunday. Only did Arena fights so far and received a few Arena ranks, but I'm still only level 1 (tried sleeping, which did nothing).

Found it funny how you can break in and steal pretty much anything - until I found out that the merchants somehow know it's stolen and wont buy it Also the interface sometimes makes me steal a bread when I simply want to talk to the landlord (very annoying), which gets me arrested by the guard who strips me of ALL stolen goods (=pretty much all my good stuff).

And why isn´t there an in-game map?

I wish I had a more powerful machine though, as I'm running in fairly low video setup (1024x768 noAA or anthing fancy) - Oblivion is beautiful as it is but I recon it would look way better if I had the right hardware.

Hehe, I bought Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, ½ a year ago and finally managed to play it all the way through. Actually Bought D2 back when it was launched, but with it only having 640x480 res. I got so annoyed that I shelved it. LoD made is soo much better, and not only because of the 800x600 res.

[RonHiler]

Uncanny - I installed and played Oblivion all Sunday. Only did Arena fights so far and received a few Arena ranks, but I'm still only level 1 (tried sleeping, which did nothing).

You have to make 10 levels of your primary skills to make a new level. Leveling is tricky in Oblivion, since some of the enemies level along with you. Make sure to keep up in whatever primary weapon type you are using. I personally never level unless I know I can get a +5 in at least two attributes (if I have +5 in two, I'll use the third for Luck, which can never get more than a +1).

Found it funny how you can break in and steal pretty much anything - until I found out that the merchants somehow know it's stolen and wont buy it Also the interface sometimes makes me steal a bread when I simply want to talk to the landlord (very annoying), which gets me arrested by the guard who strips me of ALL stolen goods (=pretty much all my good stuff).

I havne't run into that. You sure you are using it right?

And why isn´t there an in-game map?

There is. Two of them in fact. Hit the Tab key, the click on the compass bar thing at the bottom right of the menu. The two tabs to the far left are your world map and local map.

I wish I had a more powerful machine though, as I'm running in fairly low video setup (1024x768 noAA or anthing fancy) - Oblivion is beautiful as it is but I recon it would look way better if I had the right hardware.

Yeah, needs a powerful machine, to be sure. Won't even run on my laptop (no vertex/pixel 2.0 shaders) but runs quite nicely maxed out on my primary machine.

I've run a bunch of non-quest dungeons, a few misc quests, and have gotten to the priory in the main quest. So far I'm impressed by:

1) the graphics - amazing. 'Nuff said.
2) The physics - I have yet to see anything happen that couldn't happen in the real world with regard to physics. The physics engine they are using is astonishingly realistic. Arrow hits are maybe slightly exagerated, but that's my only nitpick. I hit a goblin tonight with a sword while we were on a bridge. He slumped over the edge, and the weight of his upper body slowly pulled him over. That's just one example of a dozen seriously nice things I've seen, and lots more to come, I'm sure. It is by far the best physics I've ever seen in any game. I realize they are using the Havok physics engine, which has been done before in shooters, but IMO this is the best implementation of it I've ever seen.
3) FaceGen. Wow, just wow. I've never had that level of character customization in any game ever. You could spend hours just making your face, hehe. In fact, it took me about two (on my third reroll), and I still wasn't totally happy with it, but it was decent enough. They actually may have gone too far with it, it may need to be dumbed down slightly so that people don't have to spend quite so long with it.
4) AI - FINALLY, an AI that doesn't cheat. The enemy have to deal with mana depletion just like the character does, and arrows deplete just like ours. It's great to finally be able to come up with strategies that are realistic. I had a bandit archer firing at me in a cave, so I ducked into a crevass in the wall, figuring he'd keep firing at me until out of ammo, at which point I'd go smack him with my sword. He fired a couple, then realized he couldn't hit me where I was and moved to a better position. NICE! Or there was the time I was run out of Vilveren by a bandit. I ran out of the dungoen with about 5 health left with a bandit hot on my tail. When I got outside, I stopped, figuring I was safe (as I would be in virtually every other game in existance). But NO, the bandit followed me outside! I had to run quick to save my skin. That's good stuff.

Good game. Much better than Morrowwind.

[Innocence]

I havne't run into that. You sure you are using it right?

I just RTFM I missed the part about the icon turning red whenever you're about to perform something illegal (so getting caught red-handed is taken literally here ). Wasn't aware about that... which is currently a huge problem since I "borrowed" a horse a little time ago

There is

Yes indeed. By coincidence this is in fact in manual too - amazing

The physics engine they are using is astonishingly realistic

No kidding. In fact I'm convinced they put some of the things into the game just to brag (like the string of skulls hanging from the ceiling)

You could spend hours just making your face, hehe. In fact, it took me about two (on my third reroll)

LOL ditto

it may need to be dumbed down slightly so that people don't have to spend quite so long with it

Hehe, well that's what the RANDOM button is for I guess

AI - FINALLY, an AI that doesn't cheat

Sure it cheats! How else could it beat me!!!!

[Shane Christopher]

Sure it cheats! How else could it beat me!!!!

AI IS HAXXORING!!


Actually yea.. I've never seen better physics or graphics even on my computer. My mate has an XPS with a 7800. You should see it. 1600x1200 with all the knobs on. HDR lighting on that thing is insane. I haven't been able to play it much though and I won't get a chance to again til after easter. I really miss it