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Seriously, it is a atmospheric and extremely beautiful game. It is of the point-and-click puzzle solving Category. I found the puzzle diffuculty mostly satsfying, though there are a few I found more bothersome than interesting. The storyline is very good and engaging. It is not completely unlike The Longest Journey. |
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ihmo gothic 1 had already an almost as good graphic as morrowind and the gothic 2 graphic is much better . ja 2 is one of my alltime favourites too . another one is starcraft . both have crappy graphics but graphics but graphics don't play a major role for me . but in first person 3d games like morrowind and gothic they matter . unfortunately i played gothic 2 before morrowind and then i was disappointed . i don't know why but i don't like the morrowind graphic. i still play counterstrike which has a worse graphic than morrowind but there i don't care . it is just a personal disliking for morrowind don't know why . |
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It seemed to me, like NWN, to be a world done without love. (This angered me even more in NWN, the makers of which having had really impressed me elsewhere.) Despite being full of *things*, it seemed empty and hollow. (Think Heidegger's Zuhandenheit vs. Vorhandenheit here.) This feeling was exacerbated in my eyes by an incredibly high degree of means-ends-functionality: almost nothing was there for its own sake, either as a pleasure or a joke or whatever. The NPCs seemed to me to be mere vessels to be robbed, killed, persuaded or from whom one could receive a quest (depending on your char type). The lack of feeling of immersion annoyed me so much that I had to stop somewhere in the middle of that big city whose name escapes me. Small things bothered me: I hated being greeted everywhere as "Outlander", even when disguised with that special helmet you got from one of those quests somewhere else. I really liked the good system (nice classlessness, nicely open-ended); all in all, it was a good idea which was also implemented halfway decently, but one which completely lacked magic and feeling for me. |
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I always saw NWN as a success. I had the impression it was meant to be a background for Online role playing where people could conduct their own games with players and dungeon msaters and other such role playing things.
The 'story' it came with was, to me, just like a demo, not the actual game. You were meant to come up with your own stuff, they were just providing the mechanics. That said, the game had a progressive memory leak that made it unplayable after a half hour, for me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif - Kel |
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</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I'm speaking here as someone who played Morrowind extensively for about four months, but I, too, was disappointed in retrospect. "We have learned from Daggerfall", exlaimed Bethesda. "We will provide unique characters this time, and interaction will be great." After the tenth time bribing and flattering an important NPC to gain vital informations or to solve a quest, this statement becomes a sore joke. The quests, while varied, where nevertheless of cookie-cutter-quality. Get item/disable person A for person B to tell person C. The nice storylines help from time to time, but the pattern rarely changes, with only a few notable exceptions. I constantly asked myself if I would have liked Morrowind nearly as well as I did if it had, say, Ultima I-III graphics, or pixelated textures like good old Doom, and I have come to the conclusion that without the brilliant graphics of Morrowind (this is the best nightsky of any game I ever saw, including every single modern space sim, and the dust storms just looked cool, and while I love Gothic and its sequel as well, they just don't touch this), it wouldn't have Lasted long on my computer. Maybe you and I are more graphically inclined than others. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif If Dom II had the graphics of Morrowind, I'd still love it. If Morrowind had the graphics of Dom II, I wouldn't. Oh, and compared to Daggerfall, I was very disappointed by the rather uninteresting dungeons. I seriously hope that Oblivion - which I will purchase blind, as well - comes out as a hybrid between Daggerfall goodness and Morrowind playability and graphics. Whoa. I guess that's why noone tried to answer you in long, because I for one could have gone on for another hour or so. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif /edit: So much text, so much spelling. [ July 19, 2004, 13:29: Message edited by: Karacan ] |
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well that's just the way I feel <shrug> [ July 19, 2004, 14:50: Message edited by: djtool ] |
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'and another thing young man...' http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
its not fair to critique NWN on its story. That wasn't the main focus of that project. There are so many persistant worlds that go way beyond the incuded story. I tried some of them, its kinda like playing a MMO w/out subscription fee. I kinda like the view perspective in those games too. |
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I purchased the game because I wanted a nice RPG, not a hollow vessel for modding or Online play. I visited the Bioware Boards almost religiously until it came out and was promised a great story a la Baldur's Gate series. Instead I got a quickly coughed-up random-tool-generated dungeon of immense proportions. I found only Pool of Radiance to be crappier. Certainly, certainly, certainly does NWN contain an excellent tool for creating dungeons and individually modded adventures. Hat's off there. But there isn't a heck of a lot more there. Quote:
NWN left such a bad taste in my mouth during my SP experience that I couldnt even bear to touch it for any MP experimentation. |
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but all in all it isn't as addicting to me than diablo 2 and diablo 2 lod was . i never played a mod though so a question : can you mod characters too ? i mean new skills , spells and so on ? cause if not i think although very well implemented the d&d system is still a bit boring and unbalanced . if you pvp versus a mage he kills you with isaacs greater missile storm . i think there was no resistance for this in nwn . playing pvm is in the long run very boring too i think cause even when you only play in a team of 2 a mage and a fighter it is boring since you kill almost everything without real threats. in diablo 2 unique monsters with "lucky" picks in their skills like the multiblitzers could still sometime kill you . when you had good enough equipment even baal was not difficult but in 1 of 50 or 100 tries you still could die . the main motivation from diablo is almost lacking in nwn : that you always could find one more kickass item and trading was really cool too before all the tradehacks and dupes came . and pvp was funnier in diablo 2 too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif |
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NeverWinter Nights definetly must be judged by what has been created for it since the release. Some of the player-done modules are way impressive. There are Online playable duplications of just about every one of my old favorite tabletop modules. And some wonderful new creations also. And the people who actually run them have an obvious love of DnD as they will play parts within the game to make it better. Of course there are some clunkers out there also but there is alot worth playing which makes the initial purchase worth having. MORROWIND: As for my dislike of Morrowind, I guess it wasnt bad as a game. Worth the money. I was just dissappointed because I was hoping for a bigger better Daggerfall. I liked it in Daggerfall that you had a huge map to play in, could become a hated thief in one country and a hero in the next. That such reputations chained off each other. That I could take off from the storyline and explore doing dungeons and such in a DnD style. Morrowind promised better but the caves werent really unique, they were stupid. Their uniqueness had me going deep into a cave and spending an hour trying to figure out how to position myself to be able to reach into that 3rd jar behind the door only to find a piece of bread. Their "open game" meant I could wander but there was no real wilderness, only short gaps between the roads. And no real unconnected adventures. You only discovered that the place you found and did would have shown up later in the storyline anyway. Like I said it was a good enough game for a problem-solving RPG and they should have stuck with that as the description of it. I didnt feel it was the improved Daggerfall that they said it was. Id like to see them try again. [ July 19, 2004, 15:57: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ] |
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To all who took the time to express their views of NWN and Morrowind in detail, thanks!
Karacan and Gandalf pretty much expressed most of what I dislike about Morrowind (though I do love the game). What should be added to what's been said is that Morrowind becomes a very tedious step-n-fetch after about character L10 or so, since by then you're pretty well guaranteed that any opponent you face you'll defeat. The game isn't balanced properly so that it remains a challenge and fun from beginning to end. As for NWN, I agree with Tinkthank and Boron, despite Gandalf's valid point(s). |
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TBS - Heroes of Might & Magic (2 & 3 specifically), Age of Wonders, Chessmaster, MOONBASE COMMANDER!! (and Dom 2 quickly moving up through the ranks)
RPG - Bladur's Gate 2 FPS - Don't really like FPS, though I enjoyed (and completed) Deus Ex. Question, what Category does Activision's Battlezone (1998) fit in - FPS, sim, or RTS? =)~ I LOVED that one. RTS - Like em a lot, but I suck at em. WL:BC2 Sports - Toss up between EA's Madden and NCAA football. 4x - Alpha Centauri, Civ 3 |
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Gothic released 23 Nov 01. Morrowind released 01 May 02. Gothic 2 released 13 Jun 03. Gothic 3 is targetted for Dec 05. EDIT: in my mind, I had the release dates for Gothic and Morrowind reversed, so I was thinking that Morrowind was nearly 3 years old, when it's only 2-1/4. [ July 19, 2004, 18:53: Message edited by: Arryn ] |
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Pardon me a minute while I break in with a message from our sponsors. (this seemed a good thread to mention it)
We need beta testers. Ground floor. Chance to get on the unofficial "list" of beta testers. Quote:
(And if anyone else is working on a game, talk to me) [ July 19, 2004, 19:00: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ] |
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Some specs would be nice... winows only, I presume?
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Its retro looking and fairly young in its development so I dont think it has high requirments. It is up to being playable. |
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'scuse the delayed response, but what giveth?
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The one time I actually got the chance to try and think things through, instead of killing everything on the map and then letting the "plot" run itself for me, was when I checked Pink's aura, right after he joined my party. I guess the aura-reading Discipline was thrown in as kind of an afterthought, because although Pink's one-word description was "diabolist", which is pretty much interchangeable with "traitorous bastard", there was absolutely nothing I could do to act upon this knowledge. Three or four dungeons full of identical vampires and ghouls later, Pink betrayed me, and I had to act all shocked and awed. Your party members couldn't even die, and stunned party members were miraculously resurrected every time they had a part to play in a prescripted conversation, only to pass out again. Furthermore, for a game in which combat(And the infrequent and nigh-inconsequential dialogue option) is the ONLY interactive element, you'd think they coulda made battle remotely interesting. As for the whole "decently done conVersion" thingie, I'm at a loss for words. Pretty much the only element of P&P V:tM which made the transition intact was also it's worst feature: Unadulterated, hackneyed, melodramatic, and thoroughly ludicrous angst. The fact that this cesspool of Goth isn't even tempered with a shred of realism makes the whole thing ridiculous. "Alas", sez Christof, "I am cursed to feast on the blood of the living". Christof then proceeds to attack one of the FOUR, count 'em, FOUR humans(Other than guards, vendors, and the three plot-related NPCs) in Prague. A guard halfway across the map becomes instantaneously aware of this, rushes over, shouting "Halt! Halt! Halt!" all the while, and starts swinging at the feeding Christof. His fourth blow connects, so Christof uses Presence level two on him, and starts feeding off him, which calls in another "Halten sie!" shouting guard. Deciding that being "Cursed to feast on the blood of the living"(Oh, the pain of it all) isn't worth the effort, Christof leaves the zone, automatically shaking off pursuit, and attacks a convenient stack of casks and barrels, the ammo crates of the Dark Ages. After handily dispatching the barrels(Shouting "To the abyss with thee!" with every fourth swing), he examines the contents, and finds a low-level magic scroll, some gold, and a vial of blood. How convenient. Of course, people don't REALLY leave wee little bottles of blood lying around in barrels. In the earlier portion of the game, when Christof was still human, those barrels all contained healing potions(Yes, HEALING POTIONS. Hello, dark, broody realism). I assume it's the sheer force of vamp-Christof's angst that transmutes those healing potions into blood. The effort the developers put into trying to justify taking the player from one massacre to another was simply pitiful. Honestly, you FedEX the Nosferatu some of ze bludde, he agrees to let you into the tunnels to the next zone, but warns that the remainder of his clan might not be so hospitable. FOR NO REASON, you are attacked by at least FOURTY vampires, some of them guarding levers or treasure chests(A few of them in what appears to be the legendary FOUR BY FOUR ROOM WITH A CHEST IN THE MIDDLE. I kid you not). There are only three kinds of Nosferatu in both levels of that dungeon. Three models. Three sets of textures. Three sets of stats. And one of them is a unique sub-boss. He's just like the other Nosferatu, in that he has no lines and just attacks you for no conceivable reason, but he has a magic sword and better stats. This sort of scene repeats itself about a dozen times, and then the game ends in one of three ways, depending on your Humanity stat. Please do note that in several of the semi-random massacres, you slaughter humans, not vampires. "Alas, I am cursed not to give a damn about generic goon humans, though generic prey humans are off limits. Not that I need to feed off them, or anything, since there are roughly 5,000 blood points per zone lying around in wineskins and vials for no apparent reason, and the gypsy has an unlimited supply for sale, though I should probably save up for better magic armor and a few 'identify' scrolls, instead". Early on in the game, there's a glimmer of false hope. You've just completed your first utterly pointless dungeon crawl, as a human. You've been vamped, you've had a bunch of prescripted conversations which positively OOZED junior high school level poetry and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle English, abridged Version", and you're told you must secretly, DISCREETLY retrieve a fragment of the Book of Nod(TM) from a nearby vampire monastery. So, what's V:tM:R's take on stealth-based gameplay. Walking right in and mowing down another fourty or so vampires. One scene after the massacre, the head of the monastery has forgiven and forgotten everything, and even lets one of his favorite vampires, the one with the phone-sex feeding sound effects, join your party. I mean, sure, you did eliminate a traitor from his clan's midst, but you'd think he'd have a problem with your methods. Fourty. Vampires. On a cover operation. As for multiplayer, the GM capabilities were a nice concept, definitely one long overdue, at any rate, but they were also completely and utterly unworkable. The interface was a hate crime against the geek ethnicity, and even if you managed to get everything working properly, it couldn't even begin to compare to a MUSH or pen & paper game. I hope that came out coherent, I'm definitely not at my best at the moment. So. Very. Tired. Update: Just to drive the point home, for anyone familiar with P&P V:tM, here are some of the generic goons you get to fight. There are somewhere between thirty and fifty or so per dungeon, by my estimate, and some appear in multiple dungeons. Most come in only one variety(One model, one set of textures, one set of stats), though a few come in two, not counting bosses and sub-bosses. 1) Teutonic knights, in what appears to be a really bad historian's conception of full Gothic plate. Just walking around their perfectly secure stronghold and patrolling the city streets in FULL GOTHIC PLATE. Which, like pretty much everything else carried by goons, cannot be looted. Keep in mind there are about fourty of these bastards on one map. Some of them say "Halt!". 2) Nosferatu 3) Shadowy Lasombra goon-things 4) Szlachta 5) Tremere 6) Gargoyles 7) Ventrue. 8) VENTRUE, for shag's sake! DOZENS OF IDENTICAL VENTRUE GOONS! VENTRUE! GOONS! VENTRUE GOONS! 9) MY BRAIN IS SWELLING! Updated update: In the game's defense, the opening cutscene was awesome. Everything else sucked. I know some people didn't like how Gordon Freeman had no lines, but I know most people wouldn't have wanted his every other line to be "Forsooth! I am forsook, prithee, by God, sure'n, yea, verily, and alas, anon. Oh, deceitful mendacity, how your falsehoods deceive me! But such is my fate, for I am damned, yea, damned, I verily say unto thee, thou Lion of Zion. I hereby now go at present, to return only with this bladed sword plus four of which you speak, else damned be I, though damned I be, for such is the lot of the damned." [ July 19, 2004, 21:55: Message edited by: Vicious Love ] |
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As far as being a MMO is concerned...well i suppose that depends on how many people you think it takes to be considered massive. however if they promised it to be as good a story as BG1 and 2...well they must have been high. No way that came close. [ July 19, 2004, 22:02: Message edited by: djtool ] |
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What you disliked about the game (except for the Ventrue goons, which really spoils the whole thing for those familiar with the WW pen&paper game) I could say about many other popular CRPGs. Bear in mind that it's a CRPG, and as such still has to appeal to the mass audience. The sort of roleplayers that love WW are a much smaller niche market than what the CRPG was targeting. So, yes, the game is over the top (another understatement) in many places, and has many many "theatrical" flaws. But I give it credit for allowing, like NWN has done, GMs to create their own (and better) modules and be able to play with people who aren't able to sit across a table from them. It also further popularized the pen&paper game, which doesn't hurt. And, despite its flaws, the game was fun to play. Perhaps not for you, but for myself and thousands of others it was. |
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Point taken. Nonetheless, I expect a V:tM game to be more like Fallout than Diablo. I LIKE Diablo, because it doesn't pretend to be not-Diablo.
The whole point of V:tM is that it is the anti-AD&D. Dungeon crawls, healing potions, and legions of identical foes there only for the XP are anathema to White Wolf. Right from the outset, White Wolf games were there so elitist geeks could act like they're better than run-off-the-mill hack & slashers, all the while shamelessly indulging in one the oldest adolescent power fantasies in the book. It's like that Will Smith opus, "I, Robot". It might turn out to be a downright awesome action movie. The effects might be truly spectacular. And Asimov's grave is still doing 300 or so RPM. If they'da called it "Sassy MegaDetroit Cop Versus the Killicator-Robot HyperNation", I'd probably watch it. Ditto for V:tM:R, but replace "Robot" with "Vampire" and "Sassy MegaDetroit Cop" with "Vampire". Why am I not asleep yet? Stupid King of Dragon Pass demo. Download faster! Update: Besides which, if Vampire fans are such a tiny niche demographic, why make a Vampire game at all? I mean, Chessmaster 2000 mighta sold better if there were more explosions, but people looking for explosion-based entertainment generally get turned off by words like "Chess" and "master", as well as numbers above 7. Not that I actually play chess, or anything. Not nearly enough headshots. Anyway, Bloodlines is going to kick. Silence your inappropriate-comparison making word hole. I'll be in my denial room. [ July 19, 2004, 22:44: Message edited by: Vicious Love ] |
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Though none of htem are likely to make my top 10, I thought Vampire was a decent CRPG, I thought NWN was a decent CRPG and I plan to see I, Robot http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
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It seemed to me, like NWN, to be a world done without love. (This angered me even more in NWN, the makers of which having had really impressed me elsewhere.) Despite being full of *things*, it seemed empty and hollow. (Think Heidegger's Zuhandenheit vs. Vorhandenheit here.) This feeling was exacerbated in my eyes by an incredibly high degree of means-ends-functionality: almost nothing was there for its own sake, either as a pleasure or a joke or whatever. The NPCs seemed to me to be mere vessels to be robbed, killed, persuaded or from whom one could receive a quest (depending on your char type). The lack of feeling of immersion annoyed me so much that I had to stop somewhere in the middle of that big city whose name escapes me. Small things bothered me: I hated being greeted everywhere as "Outlander", even when disguised with that special helmet you got from one of those quests somewhere else. I really liked the good system (nice classlessness, nicely open-ended); all in all, it was a good idea which was also implemented halfway decently, but one which completely lacked magic and feeling for me. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">yeah in neverwinter nights the story is only in parts nice . i liked the stories of your henchmen and parts of the main story but especially the first chapter in neverwinter nights i didn't like . in the addition disks the story became better ihmo . especially in the second one hordes from underdark the ingamevideos for important parts of the story were nice . and the new special classes + epic chars until lvl 40 are nice . i like the d&d rules system and it is well implemented in neverwinter nights . but i didn't get as addicted with nwn as with e.g. diablo . bg 2 had the much nicer story too . and another problem is that it is much too easy with certain characters . i played a fighter / weaponmaster with 2 kukris . i sharpened both by the smith in hordes from underdark and well it was really boring . 6 attacks / turn with critcal hit from 10-20 . everything non critical immune got a critical hit almost every 2nd attack and so 100-150 damage . but even special critical immune monsters like the undead dragon died very quick . so it is really too easy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif but balance seems to be very hard for roleplaygames in general . in gothic 2 it was the same once you were familiar with the fighting system and knew what skills / attributes are important it was too easy too . i didn't need to use a single heal potion with any of the 6 dragons which disappointed me totally . they were integrated very atmospherically as great evils in the story but unfortunately they were easier to kill than 4 eliteorks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif |
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UPDATE: Having seen "I, Robot" this evening, I have to say that while Asimov would not have approved of the script (I can go into the reasons why if anyone really cares), the movie wasn't bad, and was a helluva lot closer to Asimov's "universe" than "Starship Troopers" was to Heinlein's. Go see the movie and enjoy it (ignoring the impossible physics of the bots will help). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
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Haven't seen it yet myself but, shortly after my Last post, decided to Google "'will smith' asimov 'in his grave'". Results were... enlightening. I suggest you run the same search yourself, or simply run a search for "'i, robot' hardwired". Turns out any and all similarities between the movie and the book(s) are wholly unintentional.
Update: Summary of search results from various seemingly credible sources, for the abysmally lazy - Once upon a time there was an eye-gougingly generic, post Cold War, Michael Crichton style technophobia/hubris movie, about a detective who has to combat a robot uprising with raw power of quip. Realizing that nothing save the inflated effects budget set their movie apart from every mainstream SciFi Lite movie ever made, the responsible parties got in touch with the estate of Isaac Asimov, commandeered the title "I, Robot", changed one of the movie characters' name, tossed in some halfhearted mention of the Laws of Robotics, and waited for the profits to roll in. Getting back on topic, I'm a big fan of Warhammer: Dark Omen and Shadow of the Horned Rat myself, and I don't even like the miniatures game. As for Baldur's Gate, I prefer my computer games either have a good plot(Fallout style), or no plot at all(Diablo style). I can only have so many "assassins" clad in black for no reason whatsoever walk up to me in the middle of a busy street and exclaim "HELLO THERE I AM AN ASSASSIN AND I AM HERE TO MURDER YOU!" before I vow never to touch a game again. Honestly, even the AD&D system lets you slit someone's throat in their sleep, if the developer can't come up with a halfway decent excuse for a fight, they should just make the game a glorified random encounter generator. Y'know, like CounterStrike, only single player. Updated update: Furthermore, if I have to sit through one more melodramatic, ultracliched ripoff of the end of "The Empire Strikes Back", I'll weep. Stupid Sarevok. Addendum to update update: I really should get a new keyboard. I've been spontaneously dropping letters for like a week now. [ July 21, 2004, 08:05: Message edited by: Vicious Love ] |
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Both Heinlein and actually to a stronger degree Asimov are in my opinion miserable writers; the entire "robot" series was puerile and lackluster. (Like the results of what happens when 70% of most Hollywood teams get their hands on a Phillip K. Dick story.) I wasn't planning to see I Robot, but you have got my interest piqued. |
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However, catering to the lowest common denominator does not make for a truly good product....it just makes for crap that is quickly forgotten. In 20 years, the book will live on. The movie will be forgotten. [ July 21, 2004, 11:32: Message edited by: Norfleet ] |
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Oh, and I agree that Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke and the like all left much to be desired, writing style wise. Aside from Neal Stephenson(Who mostly wrote Cyberpunk, not PROPER SciFi at all), I can think of very few SciFi authors from Back in the Day who had more than a rudimentary way with words. I'm also acutely aware of the fact that most of Asimov's stuff was mediocre or worse, conceptually as well as stylistically speaking. None of this mitigates the fact that Will Smith's I, Robot is the sixth sign of the apocalypse(The other five were all "Ernest" movies). I mean, honestly, it wasn't even based on anything by Asimov, they just nabbed the title to try and dupe the unwary into watching it. |
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However, catering to the lowest common denominator does not make for a truly good product....it just makes for crap that is quickly forgotten. In 20 years, the book will live on. The movie will be forgotten. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Substance? Heinlein with Substance? Please! I said the film was "camp"; I like camp; camp is enjoyable. Camp is crap. Sometimes, this is good. (Think: "Buckaroo Banzai"). Camp is useless. Tom Stoppard once said of some of his plays that they are like a golden Mickey Mouse statue: completely useless, but somehow cute. I like that sometimes when it is clever; Starship Troopers was clever. (No, not the hack-n-slash bits, but the rather clever and ironic way in which war and dogmatism were portrayed; it was a very nice parody of American fachism.) Starship Troopers is thus a valid dystopian criticism of Heinlein's weak and uncritical optimism. I would think that you, of all people, Norfleet, would appreciate that! Asimov at least had a couple of ideas; these, however, were and are much better found elsewhere. |
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The critters outdoors on Dantooine do respawn, as do the mutant ghoul thingies on the first planet. |
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Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke (as has been mentioned by Leif) were full of interesting ideas that they wrapped into stories. Asimov and Clarke weren't particularly good writers, but they were prolific and intriguing. Heinlein, I must disagree, did write decent novels. Especially his non-children's books. It's just that his style doesn't appeal to everyone. Just as I know people (who I think are culturally blind) who don't care for G.R.R. Martin or Steven Erikson (yes, odd as that may be to believe). |
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Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke (as has been mentioned by Leif) were full of interesting ideas that they wrapped into stories. And how! Though Asimov did have a tendency to repeat himself, hence my assertion that much of his stuff wasn't all that good, conceptually. His best was brilliant, though. Clarke had this distressing tendency to occasionally try and focus on the narrative, which really wasn't his forte. His nonfiction is usually much better than his fiction. Heinlein, I must disagree, did write decent novels. Actually agreed. For some reason, I felt it'd be splitting hairs to digress any more than I already was. My bad. I know people (who I think are culturally blind) who don't care for G.R.R. Martin Heh. The only author who kills off major characters in footnotes and appendices. What's not to like? |
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Getting back on topic, again, how's everyone here feel about Dungeon Keeper and Giants: Citizen Kabuto?
Update: Also, what's everyone's favorite Ultima? I dug The Black Gate, personally, and my left eye still twitches when anyone mentions Ascension. [ July 22, 2004, 04:18: Message edited by: Vicious Love ] |
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Re: OT - your fav games
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Not as amusing or quite as well-written is his Last full-length novel, The White Plague, whose plot was scary in '82, and even more scary today. Also recommended is "The Dosadi Experiment", which is in reprint BTW. Go to Amazon or B&N to read synopsis and reviews on it. The above 3 books, plus of course Dune, are IMO his best works. I pretty much have all his books (I've been reading Herbert and other classic SF/fantasy authors since the early 70s) but these are the ones I most enjoyed. [ July 22, 2004, 09:38: Message edited by: Arryn ] |
Re: OT - your fav games
Is this just for computer games?
RPG: Morrowind (it has it's flaws though) TBS: Jagged Alliance 2, Dominions 2, Master of Orion, Emperor of the Fading Suns Wargames: Close Combat Series is simply the best, and really changed the way I thought about combat in general. RTS: Warcraft 3, TA gets an honorable mention but I'd rather play Close Combat then wade through 16-20 hours for one game on a metal world because my flash tank rush didn't work. And the sea battles? Yeeech! FPS: Quake 3. Still the best for straight up Deathmatch. I love UT200* as well, but... Management games: Patrician 3, King of Dragon Pass Fighting Games: Guilty Gear XX:reload, Last Blade 2 (still the best), Tobal 2, King of Fighters 2003. MMORPG: What a waste of time. |
Re: OT - your fav games
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One thing you MUST read in sci fi is "Roadside Picnic." I think it could be the best sci fi story I've ever read and it follows the law of sci fi that the better it is the more difficult it is to find in print... |
Re: OT - your fav games
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BTW, you'll note that I did not mention Hive when I listed my recommendations. heh http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif |
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