OT, what games r u wating 4 now?

[Olive]

izaqyos said:
I have noticed that a lot of people are not excited with HOMM V. I wonder why.

- It seems that priority has been granted to nice looking 3d graphics than to innovative gameplay.

- Units in former HOMM seemed to be a big melting pot, but it had it's own personality. Now nival has imo turned it to noname standard fantasy.

- Starforce protection .

[Vicious Love]

izaqyos said:
I have played ADOM. What is ADOM delux?

Just like ADOM, only more so. And shareware, apparently, but what can you do? http://www.adom.de/adom-deluxe/index.php3
Mind you, what I meant to say was JADE, aka ADOM 2. Unfortunately, I was too cripplingly sleep-deprived to notice. Shall edit my original post now.

And what is "Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth"?

You're familiar with the Cthulhu mythos, right? DCotE is an XBox action/adventure game set in and around Innsmouth. You'd think that sort of game would be destined to fail, but it seems Dark Corners of the Earth actually works. But I can't tell you why. You see, every review that convinced me this game was worth buying also spoiled at least one major plot point. I pretty much know what to expect in advance now, which I imagine could ruin the gaming experience. Pity.

I just wonder when this thing'll be released for PC.

[PvK]

izaqyos said:
I have noticed that a lot of people are not excited with HOMM V. I wonder why.

In my case, it's because I've played one or two earlier games in the series. While I enjoyed them briefly, I quickly figured out what they were like and that I especially didn't like the way the power levels increased. Like D&D and most CRPG's and MMORPG's, it's massively unbalanced and silly, IMO. If you think a Dom 2 human commander has no chance to defeat a Bane Lord, try a level 10 hero versus a level 15 hero in D&D, or EverQuest, or HOMM. Experience means silly amounts of hit-points, amongst other unrealistic super-powers, and so combat is more or less a matter of who is more ultimate, with the more ultimate toys, with a very long power curve that keeps getting more and more ultimate, and so quickly gets far away from any mortal, sane, or recognizable base-line as a reference point. I.e., it's more about efficiency and ammassing ultimateness than about tactics, and I like games about tactics - battle tactics, rather than summoning/equiping/producing/leveling tactics. Moreover, in HOMM, it adds in basic 4X balance which I also dislike and am bored with, where the game is largely a race to grab territory and thus simply multiply production, research and development. The single-player levels thus have to be carefully balanced or scripted so that efficient play ends up with the player winning at the end, because if the scenario is not set up that way, then the conclusion is more or less pre-determined unless there are AI exploits to abuse (or if the AI is coded to maintain the necessary balance, by cheating or otherwise). None of that is particularly satisfying or interesting to me, and looks like broken game balance to me, unless that's the type of experience one is looking for, which some players may be (due to conditioning and/or lack of imagination), but I'm not.

PvK

[NTJedi]

Olive said:

- It seems that priority has been granted to nice looking 3d graphics than to innovative gameplay.

Exactly from what I've been reading and seeing... they're not trying to make smarter AI, better balance, more unique structures, more monsters, etc., . Instead of adding improved content they're focusing on how pretty stuff looks.

On the same note... who's going to by the newest and best looking sportscar when it gets half the horsepower, no A/C, no radio or DVD player, thin tires, and less gas mileage. That's what I've seen happen with game sequels way too often.

[Agrajag]

NTJedi said:
Exactly from what I've been reading and seeing... they're not trying to make smarter AI, better balance, more unique structures, more monsters, etc., . Instead of adding improved content they're focusing on how pretty stuff looks.

On the same note... who's going to by the newest and best looking sportscar when it gets half the horsepower, no A/C, no radio or DVD player, thin tires, and less gas mileage. That's what I've seen happen with game sequels way too often.

And who can blame them?
Check out the HoMM Community, everyone there idolizes the 3rd game as the ultimate game (in the series, and in general). I think its quite obvious to Ubisoft the best way to please its fanbase is with a game that is "True to its origins".
Also, you have to remember its their first game in the series, they just recently purchased the rights to HoMM, and therefore would probably want to take minimal risks and make minimal changes on its very first realese, a game which will leave a "first impression" on all future games on the series.

[Cainehill]

Vicious Love said:
You're familiar with the Cthulhu mythos, right? DCotE is an XBox action/adventure game set in and around Innsmouth. You'd think that sort of game would be destined to fail, but it seems Dark Corners of the Earth actually works. But I can't tell you why. You see, every review that convinced me this game was worth buying also spoiled at least one major plot point. I pretty much know what to expect in advance now, which I imagine could ruin the gaming experience. Pity.

Um, not having seen any reviews, I could ruin all the plot points : You see things. You either panic and hide, or you try to save the world. Either way, you go insane. Then you die.

(Big Lovecraft / Lord Dunsany fan here. )

[Vicious Love]

Cainehill said:
Um, not having seen any reviews, I could ruin all the plot points : You see things. You either panic and hide, or you try to save the world. Either way, you go insane. Then you die.

Touché.

[PvK]

I guess now we know what happened to all of the reviewers!

[NTJedi]

Agrajag said:
[And who can blame them?
Check out the HoMM Community, everyone there idolizes the 3rd game as the ultimate game (in the series, and in general). I think its quite obvious to Ubisoft the best way to please its fanbase is with a game that is "True to its origins".
Also, you have to remember its their first game in the series, they just recently purchased the rights to HoMM, and therefore would probably want to take minimal risks and make minimal changes on its very first realese, a game which will leave a "first impression" on all future games on the series.

They don't have to make major changes, but usually when the developers focus on making stuff more pretty they begin removing or not working other stuff like what happened in Heroes_4. Heroes_4 was very unbalanced, less monsters, no unique heroes, etc, etc,... all it had was better graphics. If they make Heroes_5 the same as Heroes_3 it will be great as long as they have AT_LEAST as many movement squares on battle_maps, movement squares for world_map, monsters, items, town_types, unique heroes, and map_editor features... also game balance. All this is not really much to ask for since it previously existed in Heroes_3.

[Ygorl]

The Fool and his Money has an impressive legacy to live up to... If it's as good as The Fool's Errand was, it should be great.
http://www.fools-errand.com/05-the-fool-and-his-money/