The Gamer's Quarter

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

My friend has been trying to play it but he hasn't been able to get far due to constant crashes!
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dhex · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:43 am Post subject:

well i'll see what i will see, if i ever get to see it, i mean.

i called another gamestop today. the poor guy was like "uh, stalker...shadow of kernel wheel or something like that, right?"

according to him, it's in tomorrow. the ebgames that's 3 blocks away is supposed to be getting it this afternoon. this all puzzles the shits out of me, though. aren't they the same company?

edit: dude from the other ebgames lied to me! lied! they're getting them in tomorrow, for whatever reasons.

LIES!
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Unless it's got Madden, Halo, Final Fantasy, GTA or GoW in the title, you're better off not evening attempting to buy retail until the day after "release day".

But STALKER's looking like the first PC game I'll be playing in a while now.

dhex · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:49 pm Post subject:

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Christ, I can't believe I missed that article. Very cool stuff.

Footage exclusive to German magazine GameStar. Shows more weapons, more powers, some interesting details on already known enemies, stuff like that.

From Cult of Rapture:

Intentionally Wrong · Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:50 pm Post subject:

I haven't watched all the videos you guys have linked to, but I'm not sold on BioShock yet. It's certainly a game I want to like, but so far the combination of elements isn't doing much for me. Specifically, the genobabble currency of "Adam" as the medium by which you augment yourself and overcome obstacles in the form of "payments" strikes me as ridiculously contrived. Maybe the ideology exhibit in the museum area will change my mind; in the meantime, I can't help but roll my eyes every time a little sister shouts "Look, Mr. Bubbles! Adam!"

Which brings up the whole "moral ambiguity" angle. I know this can work in games, but any time a mechanical resource is tied up in the decision, it loses a lot of its ambiguity. It would be one thing if it were always advantageous to kill the little sisters, but the idea that you might gain more later if you don't kill them now makes this little more ambiguous than the good/evil paths in KOTOR or Neverwinter Nights.

Again, this could be a mischaracterization--but from what I've heard so far, I'm a bit skeptical.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Cover contest winner
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

dhex · Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 4:31 pm Post subject:

second place was better!

too abstract though i guess.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

I'll probably have to agree with dhex on this one, but it's not like the winner is anywhere near bad anyway.

Don't forget the Splicers concept art. Or the Bioshock T-shirt design.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Intentionally Wrong · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:40 am Post subject:

Tim · . Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 54 Location: Millersville, MD

More new Bioshock footage! Someone on the 1up forums linked this recently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5yUcQIaDkE

I like these out-of-context segments of gameplay.

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

Oh MAN that looks amazing. I can't wait.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

dessgeega · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:23 pm Post subject:

so is this just a game about shooting people?

aren't there plenty of those already?
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dhex · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:26 pm Post subject:

not nearly enough that are well-done.

plus, like, system shock's taint.

(that works both ways)
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dongle · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 290

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Based on the pedigree, I'm just expecting them to do an FPS that is good. None of this RPG hybrid crap. It's looking alright at the moment, but this video is definitely steeped in the shoot-everything mould.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dongle · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 290

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Deus Ex was only worthwhile for the story. The first System Shock was, I agree, much better than its sequel gameplay wise. If they're taking from that and Thief more so than System Shock 2, I can't complain.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Also, everything else.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Hell no. Shitty controls, blocky graphics, barely passable music, crap graphic design overall...

it was an ugly game no matter how you cut it. And playing it was worse. In first person, when I aim, I somehow expect my bullet to go where I want it to, not have to wait five senseless seconds to "get a bead" on things because I haven't completed enough side quests or found enough secret areas to gain the meaningless skill points I need for my skill which I should be able to translate directly, as a player in the most direct perspective for gaming ever.

I just hope this is the sort of thing avoided entirely by Bioshock.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

I loved the music!

I agree the skill point system could have been done better, but atleast it wasn't as bad as the one in SS2.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

At least in SS2, when my pointed my gun at something, I know I'd hit it, no matter how little damage it might do by lack of mod points.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

At least in Deus Ex, when I picked up a gun, I know I'd be able to pull the trigger, no matter how little experience with it I'd have. Also, I wouldn't have to find a new one after firing it ten times. Also, if I could mod it, I'd be able to do it as soon as I found one.

Also, I seriously never had too much trouble aiming even at the start of the game, except with shit like assault rifles but I never did bother with those much until later on. At the start I just poured my experience into a single weapon type that I planned on using from the start and was good to go.

My biggest fault with the game was the AI. It was just awful, and considering the style of game, is pretty inexcusable.
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D-A-I-S · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 123

ah, Dracko.

dongle · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 290

Mister Toups · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 3:36 am Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 7:34 am Post subject:

either way i'm happy, so fuh-fuh-fuh-fuck y'all!

heh.

(cue routine about "sensitive effete game players" whose whispy moustaches tremble at the thought of such a...common entertainment)
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Hey, I think this all looks good as well. I just hope they get round to showing the intricacies of the world and how you can use them. It'd be nice to not need to piss off Big Daddies.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Tim · . Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 54 Location: Millersville, MD

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

You know, you can't really harm the ghosts in Silent Hill 4. If they do it in a similar way (incapacitation) it could be pretty interesting still.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Yeah, but how would they explain it? It's silly to say that you'll have to deal with all kinds of moral issues, then remove the extreme ones. Extremes are interesting!
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dessgeega · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 1:47 pm Post subject:

i think maybe they decided it wouldn't work: that if the choice is ultimately between shooting a polygon child to gain valuable resources and not gaining valuable resources, bioshock's target audience would always choose shooting the child for resources, purely as a function of mathematics. and then irrational games would just be left with a child-shooting simulator on their hands.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dessgeega · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 2:42 pm Post subject:

the gamer's quarter
dessgeega has the answer to it all
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Tim · . Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 54 Location: Millersville, MD

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

As for the morality-in-a-narrative aspect of gameplay, Haze may be able to do something interesting with it when it comes out. It's an FPS in which you make yourself a better player by periodically injecting yourself with a drug--I can only assume this is one of the meanings of the game's title. If you use too much or too frequently, you overdose, which sends you into a fury during which your character automatically fires and is unable to distinguish between his squadmates and the enemy. As far as I know, this sense of consequence only extends to the immediate player, but it's an interesting alternative to the choose-your-own-adventure type thing, even when it's a really complex system.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Haze is on my watchlist. Again, due to pedigree: If you haven't, I strongly urge you to pick up Second Sight. It's one of the best told stories in the last generations of consoles ever. Haze also seems to be aiming for some nifty stuff with the drug theme as far as hallucinations go as well. In the sense of one-upping, actually: Demo mission is clear out a village. You do, until eventually, you start seeing things getting increasingly violent. People on fire, your air support getting wrecked to Hell, stuff like that. You fight for a while like this, wiping out blood-covered, furious combatants. Once you're done with them though, their bodies fade away, so do the ones of people burning etc. The implication is obvious, but I'm confident Free Radical will go far with it.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

dongle · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 290

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

dongle · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 290

Sandra O'Connor, the writer for Gears of War, is writing the script for Bioshock as well according to her site. I don't know what to think of this.

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Here's what I think of it.

*grabs his crotch*
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613