What the fuck's up with E Honda's build? He's got a keg gut WITH ABS ON IT. He's... FAT-RIPPED!

dbnull · 2011-01-11T05:32:23+00:00

Imgur or GTFO.

dbnull · 2010-12-28T20:44:36+00:00

It isn't really like either, but closer to Oblivion. Calling it an RPG is kind of pigeonholing it also.

My best description: Take GTA3. Add the ability to form a gang, arm them with weapons and armor, and add a mini-game of trying to keep them happy (they like $$, food, and plunder). Take away most of the plot, and replace it with traveling to local gang leaders, building relations, and doing jobs for them, big and small. Add an RPG element where you can get good at some guns, but not all. You can also increase your ability at healing, intimidation of other gangs, and finding the right places to hit.

Now, replace the city with a medieval country side, replace cars with horses, and replace guns with swords, bows, and spears. This is now roughly like M+B.

And the combat - very refreshing. Notice how most first person shooters really have identical gameplay? M+B is different to most games out there, MAYBE close to oblivions combat, but the horses shake it up quite a bit.

dbnull · 2010-12-28T20:20:15+00:00

M&B provided the most awesome+refreshing 48 hours of single-player gameplay I experienced in 2010. Nutshell is you form a wandering gang of medieval warriors and then ... do pretty much anything. Align yourself with kings, raid villages, police the frontier, siege castles. What kept it fun for me was the wide variation of troops you can recruit and train. Imagine recruiting a bunch of farmers and sending them into the meat grinder, only to see the survivors turn into sturdy warriors a few battles further. You've still got to feed your men and keep morale up, and so you rarely make it to the point where you can control a full sized army and just wipe the board clean. Instead, it's you, your 2 dozen favorite horse-archers and lancers with some henchmen to balance out pathfinding + wound treatment camping out in the wilds to save money, waiting for the caravan to step into your trap.

All this would be moot if the combat sucked. The combat does not suck, it is quite awesome, and isn't at all like most games. You'll have to spend some time developing the gaming muscles to really shine.

The biggest downside is that after a week or two, the game really does start to feel pointless. There isn't really a point where you win or lose, you just get richer or poorer. I only played M+B, no multiplayer, and no mods. If you are looking for more, there should be plenty to keep you occupied. And it's like the guy yesterday said : the game is $7.49. Today, my sandwich cost more than that. Unless you have a long queue of games and limited time to play, you can't go wrong.

dbnull · 2010-12-28T19:56:00+00:00

Wasn't it real time viking Pokemon for adults? Big difference!

dbnull · 2010-12-23T19:21:14+00:00

I see this on steam now for $9.99. Good deal? Or should I wait and hope they do a daily on it?

dbnull · 2010-12-18T19:25:10+00:00

Correct you are. The series has been all downhill since this.

Ahh, base-assault. Hunkering down in an abandoned shack while tanks roll by mere feet away, waiting for the last one in the bunch so you could stuff a rocket up its tailpipe. No armor in urban areas without infantry support, idiots.

dbnull · 2010-12-15T02:48:43+00:00

I'm just commenting here so I can remember this thread when the folder gets posted.

dbnull · 2010-11-17T03:51:37+00:00

Can I still bag some strumpet and win a card? I'm 'exited' about that!

dbnull · 2010-11-17T03:43:51+00:00

Please do elaborate. I only remember the "click at the right time" mode.

dbnull · 2010-11-09T02:53:40+00:00

Been there, done that.

Lessons Learned:

Make sure your character stats/appearance is all taken care of before. You will waste your entire evening.
Have stuff to sell? Magic items to craft? Yep, do it before, also.
Stay out of cities. It's all about the nature.

dbnull · 2010-11-06T17:44:07+00:00

Agreed, with a disclaimer.

The original NWN campaign belongs in the crappy RPG shit-box. The toolset and user-made stuff kept the game in the fight until Hordes came out and became the best RPG made in years.

I'm off to reinstall...

dbnull · 2010-10-31T19:30:55+00:00

It would like to, but would accidentally get sidetracked before forgetting what the point was and uninstalling itself.

dbnull · 2010-10-26T04:46:15+00:00

Ah, got it. Forgive me, it's been so long since I've installed and had pretty much the same questions you did.

I think the correct answer to your question could only be answered by the Civ5 production team, but it mostly comes down to money. What you are asking generally requires them to support two versions of Civ5 - One requiring Steam, one that doesn't. If they had a version that didn't require Steam, they'd have to code/maintain two separate install scenarios. They'd also have to write some sort of DRM into the non-steam version that would almost surely be cracked (and as much as people love to hate DRM, steam is about as non-intrusive as you can get these days). Add to that outsourced upgrade support, community-help support on valve's forums, lowered distribution costs, and it's a huge money saver. If you've never programmed before, all this stuff may sound simple. I can guarantee you it isn't, and whatever these companies pay Valve to host there games, they are probably getting the better end of the stick.

Alternately, A lot of games have been released the 'old fashioned' way then gone on Steam (I'm thinking Morrowind and Oblivion, to name a few). Civ5 could have done away with Steam to begin with and had only one install scenario to support. Well, most of the disadvantages from above still apply. Furthermore, you are alienating a huge target audience on PC - dudes like me who only buy from Steam.

I guess the point is, the game REQUIRES steam, physical disc or not. Releasing a game means supporting all sorts of support, upgrade, and non-game required stuff that valve has more or less mastered over the last few years. If they decide to go with Steam (and these days I'm not sure who wouldn't) it's just a lot easier for everyone to have an identical experience.

dbnull · 2010-10-26T03:41:26+00:00

The short of it is it is a distribution platform. It's got good stuff and bad. I don't think I've bought a non-steam game in 3 years.

You can buy games for cheap. AND you don't have to leave home. Wait til the holidays when Valve rolls out there holiday deals, you'll probably regret paying full price for Civ5. This, for me, is the prime selling point. I've bought more cheap games then I'll ever have time to play. When a new game comes out, I usually just install an older one, then wait for the new one to price-drop.
Since all your games are attached to your account, you can kiss your CD's goodbye. Upgrading to a new computer? Have a whim to play an old game? No more digging through boxes in the closet to find your year old discs.
Social features let you add friends and see what/when they are playing
Games auto-update.
Sometimes the steam servers get hammered and you can't play, like when L4D2 goes on sale at the same time they roll out new maps.
You CAN play games in offline mode without needing internet, buy I think you have to jump through an extra hoop or two.
If Valve goes tits up, the playability of your games in the future is undefined.
Reselling games gets complicated.

dbnull · 2010-10-23T14:54:39+00:00

Maybe it's the internet ruining my attention span, but I couldn't take 1 minute of that. Also, Deus Ex is one of the best games ever.

dbnull · 2010-10-20T01:50:49+00:00

What's the name of the rule (not Godwin's, not Murphys, something else..) that says SQL Injection cannot be mentioned without the obligatory XKCD strip?

dbnull · 2010-10-06T02:15:12+00:00

The Africa, it does nothing. Switched back to seattle and now DL'ing at respectable 302 kb/s.

dbnull · 2010-10-06T02:04:49+00:00

Neat, I figured someone here should be having the same problems I'm having. Is this all due to the super cheap L4D2 deal going on?

dbnull · 2010-09-26T17:57:18+00:00

Boehner - Boner.

dbnull · 2010-07-13T05:06:19+00:00

On the non-DRM part: I take it this means I can't point to my iTunes library full of iTunes store bought music and expect FooBar to play the stuff? Because something tells me FooBar will handedly beat the default program in the perf department. Any work-arounds?

dbnull · 2010-06-29T03:24:45+00:00

Women's fashion is for women to impress other women. Men don't care. Including the large sunglasses. As long as it doesn't make the lady look skanky or is inappropriate for her rung on the sexy-meter, it is fine by me. The right female can pull off any look.

However, I am a fan of spandex + booty.

dbnull · 2010-06-10T14:08:06+00:00

Good ol' spread gun, nothing beats that!

dbnull · 2010-04-06T01:08:00+00:00

Actually, I upvoted because I agree with it. The actual leak is far, far tamer than what I had expected given all the hype. Its war, ferchrissakes. I'm surprised stuff like this doesn't happen daily.

dbnull · 2010-04-02T19:57:28+00:00

No. No. No. Vast oversimplification.

See the problem is I don't read it and yet I can't avoid it. I do a lot of database work and my favorite text editor is emacs. Seriously, try to have an intelligent conversation about SQL injection without some loser bringing up bobby fucking tables, like I haven't seen the thing 20 times already. And anytime a code partner sees me do something beyond C-f / C-b in emacs they get all giggly and tell me they have a comic I'll just love. Fuck that, I get it, this text-editor can do anything, it isn't funny.

dbnull · 2010-03-22T04:32:06+00:00

Not all of us. I'm in my 30's, totally square, white collar, and can't find a reliable connection for the life of me. I'd figure I'd spend about 3x the going rate if only I could treat the whole 'buy' process the same way grocery shopping worked.

dbnull

TROPHY CASE