Its only boring during the first few hours.
Gambits let you focus on the strategy (macromanaging) instead of micromanaging every little thing they do, though you can still micromanage when necessary.
In fights where there is no strategy, as is common in the first several hours of play, when monsters don't hit hard and are spread out quite thinly across the map, that means you don't have much to do. But being able to focus on strategy will be very important during any boss encounter, or when you get surrounded by several enemies.
I'm about 25 hours in and I find myself frequently adjusting gambits for each area I go in to optimize how my party behaves. I sometimes modify gambits in the middle of a fight; if I'm taking on a particularly tough monster that is weak to Fire I might set my casters to cast that every turn. But I wouldn't normally have that gambit up when wandering the countryside, since they'll burn through all their MP that way. I'm doing the same thing I was doing in FFX, only now I don't have to wade through as many menus to do it. For me, its focusing on strategy that is the fun part, not playing with a popup menu simulator, so I love gambits.
I had this same problem; a no-name window would appear in my task bar every few minutes and then disappear immediately. I used a tool by Stardock called SecureProcess (a part of their ThinkDesk suite) to find out what it was. The tool can be used to stop processes from starting until you give them permission.
In my case, it turns out the mystery window was software that came with my HP printer. I might be wrong, but I think it was HPCMPMGR.EXE (this was several months ago, however, so my recollection might be off.)
You can register a dictionary word for something that doesn't meet the definition of that word. I'll just post this link since it probably explains it better than I can. [http://www.arvic.com/needhelp/TMfaqs.asp#Q26%5D
Anyway, most every company trademarks common words. Just glancing over this list of Apple trademarks (at http://www.apple.com/legal/trademark/appletmlist.h tml) I see plenty of dictionary words like Bonjour, Carbon, Charcoal, Keychain, Monaco, New York, Panther, Techno, and I'll stop here.
1. Gates: philanthropist 2. Stallman: socialist 3. CEO: wouldn't want that job no matter how much it paid 4. Sun: history 5. Microsoft: I dumped my Linux server and made baby geek Jesus cry so I could redo my home page using ASP.NET with their wonderful Visual Studio Express tools. 6. OSS: a form of capitalist software distribution where the payment is in the reciprocal exchange of ideas rather than currency
That's too bad for the employees being laid off, but this is probably the only thing that could save this game.
Selling it to SOE really makes sense for both parties. WBIE still has creative control and (I'm presuming) would be paid royalties of some sort for the MxO and DC Comics MMO licenses.
And SOE gets two new properties that make its Station All-Access Pass much more attractive.
Sure it does! If you had the ability to travel in time and chose to go back to 1995, why would it suddenly be a brand new 1995 simply because you chose to go there? If you had travel there, you had been there. Doing stuff. Stuff that we here, in the present, can verify happened in 1995, should we have known to look. And if we can't verify it happened, you never did it and never will (at least, not in 1995.)
Re:One significant difference
on
Dr Who Rolls On
·
· Score: 1
The old shows were 25 minutes long (though I believe they switched to a 45 minutes format with Colin Baker); the new series' episodes are 45 minutes long, so the 13 episodes of the new series is roughly equivalent to the 26 episodes of the old.
As you mentioned, the old series' episodes were longer. During the Tom Baker era, most seasons were made up of 5 4-parters (the equivalent of a two-parter in the new series) and one 6-parter. The new series had 3 two-parters and 7 one-parters and the second season will follow the same formula.
I do agree that the one-part 45-minute episodes don't allow enough time for the kind of plot development we're used to. I hope they decide to do more two-parters for the third season.
A Doctor Who MMORPG doesn't necessarily mean everyone gets to travel with the Doctor. In Lord of the Rings Online, you won't be playing Aragorn or Gandalf (or any kind of wizard for that matter.)
The new series established that Earth achieves time travel capability in the future. They could build an RPG off of that aspect, where you play Time Agents who get sent on missions, etc., to fight the Slitheen, bring back rogue agents, or obtain dangerous artifacts left over from the Time War (like what Jack Bannerman was doing) in heavily instanced scripted missions (where, like in Dungeons and Dragons Online, you are rewarded for completing the mission, not for killing/grinding.)
The Time Agency could be the MMO hub (a lobby like the cities/outposts in Guild Wars) where people find others to go on missions with. And, occasionally some of the missions might involve the mysterious Doctor.
Doctor Who would make the ultimate MMORPG since the back story would essentially allow you to go anywhere and do anything. You could fight in the Roman Colisseum one day, then travel to the far future and intervene in the Dalek Civil War the next.
The new series has established the Time Lords are no more, but perhaps the time travelling American will end up having a sufficiently compelling backstory that players could fill in, as Time Agents or rogues.
Of course, you'd go through clones a bit too quickly...
That's ok, Paranoia Online would simply need to design the character creation to be as fun as the one in City of Heroes (since that's where you'll be spending all your time.)
I'm not the one who needs to grow up here. And you're entirely missing the point. This technique could improve conditions for the vast majority and in no way makes things worse for those who, for whatever reason, can not utilize it. Those individuals would simply continue with the status quo.
The grandparent's critique was in no way a valid criticism. It was like criticizing a technology that would improve automobile safety because some people are, unfortunately, bedridden.
I don't mean to shoot down their idea, but what about people that don't have the best eyesight, or what if they're colour blind?
What about them? They will just go on typing their usernames and passwords into fake websites like they already are. The other 99% of us will be able to avoid those sites because we will have visual cues with which we can infer which sites are faked.
The PSP is still sold out in much of New York City. Its sales have been solid. It was over-hyped, but its been selling well. And its a great machine. Its definitely NOT a failure.
I'm looking forward to a PS3 entertainment media hub. I've been looking for a machine that could stream pictures/music/video from my network to my TV but I have too many devices attached to my TV already. A PS3 would provide me with that functionality, replace my DVD player, and my games machine. That's what I want. And apparently that's what a lot of other consumers want, which is why both Sony and Microsoft are moving in that direction.
almost nobody seems to care about any other MMOG at the moment
How true. And how unfortunate since World of Warcraft, while good, introduces nothing new. The other MMOGs that are being announced are pushing the envelope forwards in a number of ways:
City of Villains licensed a physics engine and has destructible terrain. You can rob a bank and blow up the door to the vault and have it blow up into little bits that bounce around realistically.
Everquest 2 is introducing movable terrain which can be used for puzzle solving -- finally, we will have a way to introduce new kinds of quests to an MMO besides permutations of "go here", "fetch this", or "kill that".
I'm not as familiar with Ring of Ryzom but it is my understanding they will allow players to develop their own zones with the same tools the developers use.
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is introducing new game mechanics such as 'diplomacy' which lets you antagonize or sweet talk or ingratiate yourself to certain NPCs (who respond accordingly).
There are lots of great ideas coming out, and all WOW has to show is one unfinished, instanced battleground. Sorry, but I've been there, done that.
Well this is all nice and good, but it's also proof that the feds don't understand the internet yet. Since I can plug a VoIP phone in anywhere, how is the dispatch going to know where you are like they would with a POTS line? Run a traceroute??
Easy. The VoIP tells the dispatch where you are physically located. How does the VoIP provider know where you are physically located? They ask you.
At least, that's how it worked for me. This isn't an unreasonable request by the feds at all.
Yes, its worth that much. It appears as if the PS3 will be much more than a videogame console. It will allow burning DVDs, let me access the Internet while I'm playing a game, play video and audio over the network, and more (or so I've heard.)
Perhaps they will have a stripped down games-only version later.
Look, if you made those levels and the time spent attaining them worthwhile, instead of just grinding, then "loyal and honest" players would want to experience them.
This is so true. Grinding is what I have always though of as a design flaw in MMORPGs. And now that the game producers have found a way to make money off of this design flaw, if this succeeds, it will be a long time before anyone moves the genre forwards.
1) Its a roleplaying game. You aren't truly playing a role if you're real life monetary situation comes into play.
2) Every one starts out in the same boat (literally, in EQ2). Your choices dictate where you go from there. There is some element of competition to it: people want to be one of the first to get some item, or to defeat some bad guy. This takes effort. Being able to buy items without the effort is viewed as cheating.
If rich football teams could pay extra to get their opponent's goal posts raised, would the NFL be as interesting? Probably not. If I get a score of 100,000 in Pacman by actually playing the game, it could be rather irritating to see some other player on the high score board with his score of 110,000 because he paid someone to put his name there.
For the same reason, being able to buy advantages in an MMO with real money changes the nature of the game. The victories (getting the gear, beating the boss monster) don't mean as much when people can buy them instead of actually doing it within the game itself.
1. Download the latest
One-Click Ruby Installer for Windows (shown in Figure 1)....
2. Double-click on the downloaded executable and follow the installation instructions....
Sounds more like a two click Ruby installer to me.
Raising skills is the same thing as raising levels; skill-based systems simply provide more levels to raise.
Raising skills/levels is a game mechanic that is intended to provide a sense of progress. This works in PnP RPGs. This works in solo CRPGs. It can work somewhat in PvE games since it basically acts as a restriction to access to some content in the game (unfortunately, too many MMO designers seem to make levelling the sole content.)
Where levelling really fails is in PvP MMOs.
If I'm level 25 and you're level 50, you will win. Not because you have more skills, and not because you are better; you win simply because you spent more TIME on your toon. A battlefield where the victor is the side whose members have the most free time isn't a very compelling one.
Fortunately, some newer PvP MMOs are moving away from the levelling mechanic.
For example, Vendetta Online is a space-based MMO; as you level you gain access to new weapons and ships. However, combat is twitch-based, so even with the newbie starter ship, you can defeat high-level players if you play better than they do.
Guild Wars promises to make 'higher-level' spells/skills 'more specialized' rather than simply "more powerful". This puts an element of skill in the game that is completely absent in Lineage 2 and other PVP MMORPGs.
Hopefully, other game designers will start incorporating alternative content to levelling in their MMORPGs as well.
You might be thinking of a series of games called "Alternate Reality". The FAQ below details the plans that had been intended for the prematurely aborted series of games.
The basic premise is this: you are kidnapped by aliens and taken to a strange alternate reality filled with swords and sorcery. The game was going to be sold in various installments. The only two that were finished were 'the City' and 'the Dungeon.' Ultimately, there would have been 'the Palace', 'the Arena', 'the Wilderness,' etc.
As you explore, you eventually find the alien ships that brought you to this strange land. In the final chapter of the series, you would discover that you (and everyone else) were trapped on the alien ship in metal cocoons fed images of this alternate reality (essentially, you were living in a machine, a la the Matrix.)
Slashdot Mirror
Its only boring during the first few hours. Gambits let you focus on the strategy (macromanaging) instead of micromanaging every little thing they do, though you can still micromanage when necessary. In fights where there is no strategy, as is common in the first several hours of play, when monsters don't hit hard and are spread out quite thinly across the map, that means you don't have much to do. But being able to focus on strategy will be very important during any boss encounter, or when you get surrounded by several enemies. I'm about 25 hours in and I find myself frequently adjusting gambits for each area I go in to optimize how my party behaves. I sometimes modify gambits in the middle of a fight; if I'm taking on a particularly tough monster that is weak to Fire I might set my casters to cast that every turn. But I wouldn't normally have that gambit up when wandering the countryside, since they'll burn through all their MP that way. I'm doing the same thing I was doing in FFX, only now I don't have to wade through as many menus to do it. For me, its focusing on strategy that is the fun part, not playing with a popup menu simulator, so I love gambits.
I had this same problem; a no-name window would appear in my task bar every few minutes and then disappear immediately. I used a tool by Stardock called SecureProcess (a part of their ThinkDesk suite) to find out what it was. The tool can be used to stop processes from starting until you give them permission.
In my case, it turns out the mystery window was software that came with my HP printer. I might be wrong, but I think it was HPCMPMGR.EXE (this was several months ago, however, so my recollection might be off.)
If you aren't replaceable, you aren't promotable...
They get to do it because others can.
h tml) I see plenty of dictionary words like Bonjour, Carbon, Charcoal, Keychain, Monaco, New York, Panther, Techno, and I'll stop here.
You can register a dictionary word for something that doesn't meet the definition of that word. I'll just post this link since it probably explains it better than I can. [http://www.arvic.com/needhelp/TMfaqs.asp#Q26%5D
Anyway, most every company trademarks common words. Just glancing over this list of Apple trademarks (at http://www.apple.com/legal/trademark/appletmlist.
1. Gates: philanthropist
2. Stallman: socialist
3. CEO: wouldn't want that job no matter how much it paid
4. Sun: history
5. Microsoft: I dumped my Linux server and made baby geek Jesus cry so I could redo my home page using ASP.NET with their wonderful Visual Studio Express tools.
6. OSS: a form of capitalist software distribution where the payment is in the reciprocal exchange of ideas rather than currency
I eagerly await my -1, Flamebait.
That's too bad for the employees being laid off, but this is probably the only thing that could save this game. Selling it to SOE really makes sense for both parties. WBIE still has creative control and (I'm presuming) would be paid royalties of some sort for the MxO and DC Comics MMO licenses. And SOE gets two new properties that make its Station All-Access Pass much more attractive.
yeh but the past doesn't have your future self.
Sure it does! If you had the ability to travel in time and chose to go back to 1995, why would it suddenly be a brand new 1995 simply because you chose to go there? If you had travel there, you had been there. Doing stuff. Stuff that we here, in the present, can verify happened in 1995, should we have known to look. And if we can't verify it happened, you never did it and never will (at least, not in 1995.)
The old shows were 25 minutes long (though I believe they switched to a 45 minutes format with Colin Baker); the new series' episodes are 45 minutes long, so the 13 episodes of the new series is roughly equivalent to the 26 episodes of the old.
As you mentioned, the old series' episodes were longer. During the Tom Baker era, most seasons were made up of 5 4-parters (the equivalent of a two-parter in the new series) and one 6-parter. The new series had 3 two-parters and 7 one-parters and the second season will follow the same formula.
I do agree that the one-part 45-minute episodes don't allow enough time for the kind of plot development we're used to. I hope they decide to do more two-parters for the third season.
That sounds pretty cool, but all I'd like is a restaurant where the tables have a button for "My drink is empty, I'd like another one, thank you".
Dave and Busters has those. When I lived in Chicago, I lived a block away from there. Technically.
A Doctor Who MMORPG doesn't necessarily mean everyone gets to travel with the Doctor. In Lord of the Rings Online, you won't be playing Aragorn or Gandalf (or any kind of wizard for that matter.) The new series established that Earth achieves time travel capability in the future. They could build an RPG off of that aspect, where you play Time Agents who get sent on missions, etc., to fight the Slitheen, bring back rogue agents, or obtain dangerous artifacts left over from the Time War (like what Jack Bannerman was doing) in heavily instanced scripted missions (where, like in Dungeons and Dragons Online, you are rewarded for completing the mission, not for killing/grinding.) The Time Agency could be the MMO hub (a lobby like the cities/outposts in Guild Wars) where people find others to go on missions with. And, occasionally some of the missions might involve the mysterious Doctor.
Doctor Who would make the ultimate MMORPG since the back story would essentially allow you to go anywhere and do anything. You could fight in the Roman Colisseum one day, then travel to the far future and intervene in the Dalek Civil War the next.
The new series has established the Time Lords are no more, but perhaps the time travelling American will end up having a sufficiently compelling backstory that players could fill in, as Time Agents or rogues.
The Computer is your friend!
Of course, you'd go through clones a bit too quickly...
That's ok, Paranoia Online would simply need to design the character creation to be as fun as the one in City of Heroes (since that's where you'll be spending all your time.)
I'm not the one who needs to grow up here. And you're entirely missing the point. This technique could improve conditions for the vast majority and in no way makes things worse for those who, for whatever reason, can not utilize it. Those individuals would simply continue with the status quo.
The grandparent's critique was in no way a valid criticism. It was like criticizing a technology that would improve automobile safety because some people are, unfortunately, bedridden.
I don't mean to shoot down their idea, but what about people that don't have the best eyesight, or what if they're colour blind?
What about them? They will just go on typing their usernames and passwords into fake websites like they already are. The other 99% of us will be able to avoid those sites because we will have visual cues with which we can infer which sites are faked.
The PSP is still sold out in much of New York City. Its sales have been solid. It was over-hyped, but its been selling well. And its a great machine. Its definitely NOT a failure.
I'm looking forward to a PS3 entertainment media hub. I've been looking for a machine that could stream pictures/music/video from my network to my TV but I have too many devices attached to my TV already. A PS3 would provide me with that functionality, replace my DVD player, and my games machine. That's what I want. And apparently that's what a lot of other consumers want, which is why both Sony and Microsoft are moving in that direction.
How true. And how unfortunate since World of Warcraft, while good, introduces nothing new. The other MMOGs that are being announced are pushing the envelope forwards in a number of ways:
City of Villains licensed a physics engine and has destructible terrain. You can rob a bank and blow up the door to the vault and have it blow up into little bits that bounce around realistically.
Everquest 2 is introducing movable terrain which can be used for puzzle solving -- finally, we will have a way to introduce new kinds of quests to an MMO besides permutations of "go here", "fetch this", or "kill that".
I'm not as familiar with Ring of Ryzom but it is my understanding they will allow players to develop their own zones with the same tools the developers use.
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is introducing new game mechanics such as 'diplomacy' which lets you antagonize or sweet talk or ingratiate yourself to certain NPCs (who respond accordingly).
There are lots of great ideas coming out, and all WOW has to show is one unfinished, instanced battleground. Sorry, but I've been there, done that.
I wonder if we'll see other PC MMORPGs coming to the 360
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is rumored to be coming out for the Xbox 360.
Well this is all nice and good, but it's also proof that the feds don't understand the internet yet. Since I can plug a VoIP phone in anywhere, how is the dispatch going to know where you are like they would with a POTS line? Run a traceroute??
Easy. The VoIP tells the dispatch where you are physically located. How does the VoIP provider know where you are physically located? They ask you.
At least, that's how it worked for me. This isn't an unreasonable request by the feds at all.
Awesome. I'll finally be able to play GTA while I'm driving.
Yes, its worth that much. It appears as if the PS3 will be much more than a videogame console. It will allow burning DVDs, let me access the Internet while I'm playing a game, play video and audio over the network, and more (or so I've heard.)
Perhaps they will have a stripped down games-only version later.
Look, if you made those levels and the time spent attaining them worthwhile, instead of just grinding, then "loyal and honest" players would want to experience them.
This is so true. Grinding is what I have always though of as a design flaw in MMORPGs. And now that the game producers have found a way to make money off of this design flaw, if this succeeds, it will be a long time before anyone moves the genre forwards.
1) Its a roleplaying game. You aren't truly playing a role if you're real life monetary situation comes into play.
2) Every one starts out in the same boat (literally, in EQ2). Your choices dictate where you go from there. There is some element of competition to it: people want to be one of the first to get some item, or to defeat some bad guy. This takes effort. Being able to buy items without the effort is viewed as cheating.
If rich football teams could pay extra to get their opponent's goal posts raised, would the NFL be as interesting? Probably not. If I get a score of 100,000 in Pacman by actually playing the game, it could be rather irritating to see some other player on the high score board with his score of 110,000 because he paid someone to put his name there.
For the same reason, being able to buy advantages in an MMO with real money changes the nature of the game. The victories (getting the gear, beating the boss monster) don't mean as much when people can buy them instead of actually doing it within the game itself.
Raising skills is the same thing as raising levels; skill-based systems simply provide more levels to raise.
Raising skills/levels is a game mechanic that is intended to provide a sense of progress. This works in PnP RPGs. This works in solo CRPGs. It can work somewhat in PvE games since it basically acts as a restriction to access to some content in the game (unfortunately, too many MMO designers seem to make levelling the sole content.)
Where levelling really fails is in PvP MMOs.
If I'm level 25 and you're level 50, you will win. Not because you have more skills, and not because you are better; you win simply because you spent more TIME on your toon. A battlefield where the victor is the side whose members have the most free time isn't a very compelling one.
Fortunately, some newer PvP MMOs are moving away from the levelling mechanic.
For example, Vendetta Online is a space-based MMO; as you level you gain access to new weapons and ships. However, combat is twitch-based, so even with the newbie starter ship, you can defeat high-level players if you play better than they do.
Guild Wars promises to make 'higher-level' spells/skills 'more specialized' rather than simply "more powerful". This puts an element of skill in the game that is completely absent in Lineage 2 and other PVP MMORPGs.
Hopefully, other game designers will start incorporating alternative content to levelling in their MMORPGs as well.
You might be thinking of a series of games called "Alternate Reality". The FAQ below details the plans that had been intended for the prematurely aborted series of games.
http://www.gamesover.com/walkthroughs/alternate_re ality.txt
The basic premise is this: you are kidnapped by aliens and taken to a strange alternate reality filled with swords and sorcery. The game was going to be sold in various installments. The only two that were finished were 'the City' and 'the Dungeon.' Ultimately, there would have been 'the Palace', 'the Arena', 'the Wilderness,' etc.
As you explore, you eventually find the alien ships that brought you to this strange land. In the final chapter of the series, you would discover that you (and everyone else) were trapped on the alien ship in metal cocoons fed images of this alternate reality (essentially, you were living in a machine, a la the Matrix.)