I hate to see a list like this restricted to consoles only, since it means the best strategy RPG of all time is left off the list: Master of Magic.
By all things holy, it's a fine game. In fact, even though it's never been on a console, it's so damn good it should still be on the list, just out of reverence.
Umm... What a thinly veiled pro-Bush, pro-Iraq-War rant. Sorry, I'm not trying to derail, but basically half of his points are essentially taking shots at those that question things like the abuse of prisoners and civilian casulties.
The fact that he is doing it in the form of a questionably 'funny' video game list, and that it was posted here as a games topic is pretty lame.
So it's basically the same game, but prettier and the pack mule has been replaced by a more dangerous animal.
How about this. Make me care about the character, the storyline, and give me more than four skills to improve on and then we can talk. The first game in this series made Diablo seem like a deep RPG...
On top of that, there is the rumoured acquisition of Bioware by Microsoft (is this still rumoured?) If it is so, there goes the two best RPG studios in the last ten years.
This is one of those schisms that I have no idea how to deal with in gaming. First of all, the more storyline there is, generally the more linear the gameplay is. Max Payne had an interesting story, but little freedom.
On the other hand you have games like Morrowind. Great sense of freedom and that contributed to the quality of it's gameplay. As a side-effect, the storyline was easily mangled, and you could break the main quests by doing things out of order, going to where you shouldn't be too early, etc...
Until we reach a point where the hardware is powerful enough that programmers can create an adaptive enough AI, Storyline will just be a euphemism for 'railroading'.
I fail to see how anyone finds the EyeToy to be 'unique' or 'inventive'. Did no one here own a Logitech QuickCam? They had motion capturing games on the PC in the late 90's that shipped with the camera. I distinctly recall playing some horrible basketball game on a demo system at the store where I worked.
It was pointless, un-fun technology then, and I doubt it's any better now.
We all know that gaming and porn drive the electronics industry, right? This has to be the next step in combining the two of them.
Mark my words, in a few years it will be 'Virtual Girl 4, now with Electrodes!' Use your imagination on where those electrodes connect, boys and girls...
That may be the lamest argument I have ever heard. Basically, you are saying "Guns are good, because killing people with guns is more humane than knives or bats."
Wow. No, really, wow. I have no words that can possible describe how very, very, insulting to my intelligence that is.
I am sure you are getting a lot of email about your recent cutting of the Black Isle team, and I doubt one more voice will make any difference, but I couldn't stay quiet.
This is going to hurt your bottom line because all of the gamers out here who like in-depth 'brain required' games are now seeing Interplay as just another twitch-game console exclusive company who is simply no longer worth our time. I own all of the great Black Isle titles, every single one and all the expansions, and now they have been eliminated for no apparent reason.
The PC market may not be the lucrative cash-cow that the console market is, but we have very few developers left that demand a purchase of their games on name alone. Black Isle was one, Bioware is another, and you have alienated yourself from this market on both counts.
Interplay no longer holds anything of interest for me and many others like me. When your company folds, we will remember these decisions you have made and say 'no wonder'. For a company with your legacy, this is hardly the way I imagined I would feel five or ten years ago.
It was fun while it lasted.
Hey, I agree that the great games were few, but it was worth it, to me, for those games alone (plus Samurai Showdown that I forgot to mention).
I still play Star Control 2 on an old DOS PC that I keep around for that specific purpose, but it doesn't approach the fun on the 3DO, and the voices man, the voices! Killer app indeed.
Enough nostalgia though... Back to your regularly scheduled flamewar.
The best 'Archon-like' game that I have ever played was Dark Legions by Canadian developer Silicon Knights.
A massive game board, characters who cast spells and could summon, armies purchased by a point-buy system, great replayability, not that the original Archon was bad, but Dark Legions just came off as a better game. Came with a set of trading cards of all the troop types in the box too!
Check it out here: http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=275
Please note, I am too dumb for the HTMLing. You all can copy and paste, right?
Sorry, but they aren't either/or. Games require an engine and content, and societies are built around common goals.
Most MMORPGs have little to no content, and 'teamwork' is a only effected in small random groups that rarely represent the average MMORPG player. MMORPGs are essentially chat rooms with ogres and +5 axes.
Touche' good falcon. I concede the point. Allow me to make this rebuttal, however. In the words of a wise man, Aristotle I believe, 'Macs are teh suxxors!'
I'm curious how much Blizzard's decision to produce StarCraft: Ghost as a console title dictated their 'PC Focus'?
Seems like a good idea to me. I know that their is a community backlash against PC software houses when they go console focused or console only. Look at Jade Empires and KOTOR from Bioware... Fable from Lionhead... Angry PC users abound in both cases, so this could be a shrewd marketing manoeuver.
I'm the sort of geek that this is made for. I've been staying away from MMORPGs simply because nothing has really grabbed my fancy (not even SWG). This however, is a holy grail. This will be the one to make me play online.
I think I'm going to have to get some sort of catheter.
It seems that the current thinking from the IDSA and other software publishers, developers and associations is 'If it can be used illegally, it's illegal, and will only be used by pirates'.
BitTorrent and the like are being picked up independants, and are being used for some demos (ToEE over KaZaA, for example), but until the mainstream developers start to use it, it will always be 'fringe'. GameSpy and FileShack will still get their exclusives and that will keep P2P marginalized.
Don't forget that these are all based on Copy-Protection schemes that are licensed from other software houses. Once you can break 'Fade' or 'Secu-Rom' as a technology, the art of completely patching a new executable is essentially running a script.
This won't prevent piracy in the least, but will hurt legitimate users in the long run.
Slashdot Mirror
By all things holy, it's a fine game. In fact, even though it's never been on a console, it's so damn good it should still be on the list, just out of reverence.
With modern marketing, I'm sure there would be more exclamation points than that, but I'm sure you get the drift.
A Haiku for him:
Weep not for Spector,
DX2 sucked anyhow,
Here's to better days!
The fact that he is doing it in the form of a questionably 'funny' video game list, and that it was posted here as a games topic is pretty lame.
There were some real forgotten classics from Origin in that time, Moebius and Ogre for instance. Well worth looking into.
How about this. Make me care about the character, the storyline, and give me more than four skills to improve on and then we can talk. The first game in this series made Diablo seem like a deep RPG...
On top of that, there is the rumoured acquisition of Bioware by Microsoft (is this still rumoured?) If it is so, there goes the two best RPG studios in the last ten years.
On the other hand you have games like Morrowind. Great sense of freedom and that contributed to the quality of it's gameplay. As a side-effect, the storyline was easily mangled, and you could break the main quests by doing things out of order, going to where you shouldn't be too early, etc...
Until we reach a point where the hardware is powerful enough that programmers can create an adaptive enough AI, Storyline will just be a euphemism for 'railroading'.
It was pointless, un-fun technology then, and I doubt it's any better now.
Mark my words, in a few years it will be 'Virtual Girl 4, now with Electrodes!' Use your imagination on where those electrodes connect, boys and girls...
Wow. No, really, wow. I have no words that can possible describe how very, very, insulting to my intelligence that is.
I am sure you are getting a lot of email about your recent cutting of the Black Isle team, and I doubt one more voice will make any difference, but I couldn't stay quiet. This is going to hurt your bottom line because all of the gamers out here who like in-depth 'brain required' games are now seeing Interplay as just another twitch-game console exclusive company who is simply no longer worth our time. I own all of the great Black Isle titles, every single one and all the expansions, and now they have been eliminated for no apparent reason. The PC market may not be the lucrative cash-cow that the console market is, but we have very few developers left that demand a purchase of their games on name alone. Black Isle was one, Bioware is another, and you have alienated yourself from this market on both counts. Interplay no longer holds anything of interest for me and many others like me. When your company folds, we will remember these decisions you have made and say 'no wonder'. For a company with your legacy, this is hardly the way I imagined I would feel five or ten years ago. It was fun while it lasted.
I still play Star Control 2 on an old DOS PC that I keep around for that specific purpose, but it doesn't approach the fun on the 3DO, and the voices man, the voices! Killer app indeed.
Enough nostalgia though... Back to your regularly scheduled flamewar.
3D0 not a killer platform? Clearly you never played Road Rash 3D0, Star Control 2, or SF 2 Turbo on it... I regret to this day ever selling my 3D0.
A massive game board, characters who cast spells and could summon, armies purchased by a point-buy system, great replayability, not that the original Archon was bad, but Dark Legions just came off as a better game. Came with a set of trading cards of all the troop types in the box too!
Check it out here: http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=275
Please note, I am too dumb for the HTMLing. You all can copy and paste, right?
Anyone have HP numbers or 0-60 times for the car?
Most MMORPGs have little to no content, and 'teamwork' is a only effected in small random groups that rarely represent the average MMORPG player. MMORPGs are essentially chat rooms with ogres and +5 axes.
Touche' good falcon. I concede the point. Allow me to make this rebuttal, however. In the words of a wise man, Aristotle I believe, 'Macs are teh suxxors!'
Ummm... In the gaming world 'to the masses' clearly excludes Mac users. 5% of the desktop market does not 'the masses' make.
Seems like a good idea to me. I know that their is a community backlash against PC software houses when they go console focused or console only. Look at Jade Empires and KOTOR from Bioware... Fable from Lionhead... Angry PC users abound in both cases, so this could be a shrewd marketing manoeuver.
I think I'm going to have to get some sort of catheter.
HappyPuppy is no longer subscription?! Yippee! You just got a visitor back...
It seems that the current thinking from the IDSA and other software publishers, developers and associations is 'If it can be used illegally, it's illegal, and will only be used by pirates'. BitTorrent and the like are being picked up independants, and are being used for some demos (ToEE over KaZaA, for example), but until the mainstream developers start to use it, it will always be 'fringe'. GameSpy and FileShack will still get their exclusives and that will keep P2P marginalized.
Don't forget that these are all based on Copy-Protection schemes that are licensed from other software houses. Once you can break 'Fade' or 'Secu-Rom' as a technology, the art of completely patching a new executable is essentially running a script. This won't prevent piracy in the least, but will hurt legitimate users in the long run.
And I thought it was a short for Grand Pleft Lauto... So... I... Learned something... today.