RPGs usually present you with a series of linear game choices. You can either accept, or refuse a quest/mission/whatever series. The steps along the series are almost always the same with no choices offered except maybe choosing the reward of a wand or sword at the end.
With choose your own adventure, the paths that you take close other paths, and you are offered two or three or more choices on about every other page. Some choices lead to a happy endings, some to a sad endings, with varying story lengths among them.
Level scaling (and loot scaling) as implemented in Oblivion detracts from an otherwise outstanding game.
For those of you that haven't played oblivion yet, level scaling is a balancing mechanism where the game world adapts to your character's level. The enemies are replaced by more powerful ones as you level up. Bears instead of wolves for instance, or mob characters that level up and get better equipment when you do.
This has many players asking, "So what's the point in advancing my character?".
The idea of level scaling the monsters is generally a good idea for a game of Oblivion's size, but in this case the balancing is way off. The problem is that the level scaling can get coupled with some odd bugs, which can easily make your life miserable.
For instance, at the beginning of the game, if you follow the main plotline, you will get to Kvatch which has been overrun by demons. If you postpone this quest and return when you're level, say, 10 or 15, you will have the unpleasant surprise of seeing that all your NPC allies get owned in the first 30 seconds of the battle, leaving you with 6, 7 or more enemies to handle. Enemies which are of course as powerful as you are, because of the level scaling.
The immediate result of this will be a swift death on your part, or a prolonged one, depending on how many health potions you have. If, by some Godly miracle, you manage to retreat and run for it, the stated policy would be to try and bait one enemy at a time, fight him for some obscene amounts of time, heal and spend a fortune on repairing your equipment (if you want to save a lot of money, the Armorer skill is your friend) and then do it all over again.
In my experieince with the game, the balancing issues with the level scaling system created some embarrassing moments. I couldn't actually believe that they were happening. Situations in which I, Dragonheart, Champion of the Imperial Arena, the greatest fighter in history, having defeated the previous Grand Champion and all gladiators in-between, with a Light Raiment of Valor as armor, is almost killed by a wolf in the forest.
This happened when I was level 6. You wonder how I got to be Champion of the Arena at level 6? Well, let's just say that the Arena is not all that it's cranked up to be because of the balancing.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the monster level scaling isn't an issue. That it makes the game challenging long after you're done with the main quest, which is true. But the same principle applies to the loot and equipment that you find or steal, which is scaled according to your level. You've defeated a mighty Minotaur? Very good, you can sell his weapon and armor without remorse, because it won't be any better than yours.
You managed to lockpick a "5 tumbler" lock, which rates "Very Hard" on the difficulty scale while being level 2? Congratulations, you've found 20 septims and a carrot.
Basically, even if you do manage to pull of an incredible feat in the game, like breaking a "5 tumbler" lockpick, you'll never get something spectacular as a reward, or at least something that would justify the effort.
So this leads back to the grueling question: So what's the point in advancing your character?. Why keep improving your character? Why explore the world, all the dungeons, catacombs and forts? For what? So that when you buy a new weapon or a set of armor, everyone else would automatically get something that's equally good? To level up and see that all the enemies are suddenly just as good you?
While shading language like Microsoft's HLSL, Nvidia's Cg, and OpenGL's GLSL are similar, they have slight syntax and usage differences.
In this case, the PS3 shading language is Nvidia's Cg with a few enhancements. So, if you wanted to write GFX for it you are going to need to Cg and you should study that (as oppossed to GLSL).
So far all they've added since GTA3 is a bigger world, subpar improvements to graphics, new vehicles, new missions and new side-missions. Theres no new physics engine, no new real major additions (still no aircraft)...
What? Aircraft have been in the game since Vice City.
No physics impovements? Did you forget that Rockstar added motorcycles and playable pool tables in VC? How about the bicycles, base jumping, and the ability to swim added in SA?
Other additions since the original GTA3 include tons of new weapons, the ability to enter stores to either buy stuff or rob them. You can now eat food, buy clothes, get tattoos, workout, get a haircut, and customize your cars with paint/suspension/nitro kits. You can then take your tricked out rides into bounce competitions. They even added schools you can attend in game for various types of vehicles (cars, motorocycles, boats, aircraft) to improve ingame control of said vehicles.
They added stats like respect, strength, body fat, and dating progress with girlfriends (yes, you can get girlfriends in the game now). Also added are mini games like gyruss, flying bee game, a DDR game, pool, and a few forms of gambling.
SA added gang wars with the ability to take over turf, getting a posse and doing drive bys, and home invasions.
Rockstar has added multiplayer to GTA. In Liberty City Stories (the latest installment) you can now play over a network with friends in seven different modes that include:
Deathmatch
Street Racing
Steal Cars Competition
Steal the Opposing Players Car
Kill the Marked Pedestrians
Everyone vs The Player in the Tank ... and more
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My first gaming experience was in the arcades, probably 1975 and there were too many games I played to say just one. Circus, Breakout, Dominoes
My first computer game? Tank battle for a home built computer in 1976
My first video game on a console? Atari combat in 1977
RPGs usually present you with a series of linear game choices. You can either accept, or refuse a quest/mission/whatever series. The steps along the series are almost always the same with no choices offered except maybe choosing the reward of a wand or sword at the end.
With choose your own adventure, the paths that you take close other paths, and you are offered two or three or more choices on about every other page. Some choices lead to a happy endings, some to a sad endings, with varying story lengths among them.
For those of you that haven't played oblivion yet, level scaling is a balancing mechanism where the game world adapts to your character's level. The enemies are replaced by more powerful ones as you level up. Bears instead of wolves for instance, or mob characters that level up and get better equipment when you do.
This has many players asking, "So what's the point in advancing my character?".
The idea of level scaling the monsters is generally a good idea for a game of Oblivion's size, but in this case the balancing is way off. The problem is that the level scaling can get coupled with some odd bugs, which can easily make your life miserable.
For instance, at the beginning of the game, if you follow the main plotline, you will get to Kvatch which has been overrun by demons. If you postpone this quest and return when you're level, say, 10 or 15, you will have the unpleasant surprise of seeing that all your NPC allies get owned in the first 30 seconds of the battle, leaving you with 6, 7 or more enemies to handle. Enemies which are of course as powerful as you are, because of the level scaling.
The immediate result of this will be a swift death on your part, or a prolonged one, depending on how many health potions you have. If, by some Godly miracle, you manage to retreat and run for it, the stated policy would be to try and bait one enemy at a time, fight him for some obscene amounts of time, heal and spend a fortune on repairing your equipment (if you want to save a lot of money, the Armorer skill is your friend) and then do it all over again.
In my experieince with the game, the balancing issues with the level scaling system created some embarrassing moments. I couldn't actually believe that they were happening. Situations in which I, Dragonheart, Champion of the Imperial Arena, the greatest fighter in history, having defeated the previous Grand Champion and all gladiators in-between, with a Light Raiment of Valor as armor, is almost killed by a wolf in the forest.
This happened when I was level 6. You wonder how I got to be Champion of the Arena at level 6? Well, let's just say that the Arena is not all that it's cranked up to be because of the balancing.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the monster level scaling isn't an issue. That it makes the game challenging long after you're done with the main quest, which is true. But the same principle applies to the loot and equipment that you find or steal, which is scaled according to your level. You've defeated a mighty Minotaur? Very good, you can sell his weapon and armor without remorse, because it won't be any better than yours.
You managed to lockpick a "5 tumbler" lock, which rates "Very Hard" on the difficulty scale while being level 2? Congratulations, you've found 20 septims and a carrot.
Basically, even if you do manage to pull of an incredible feat in the game, like breaking a "5 tumbler" lockpick, you'll never get something spectacular as a reward, or at least something that would justify the effort.
So this leads back to the grueling question: So what's the point in advancing your character?. Why keep improving your character? Why explore the world, all the dungeons, catacombs and forts? For what? So that when you buy a new weapon or a set of armor, everyone else would automatically get something that's equally good? To level up and see that all the enemies are suddenly just as good you?
While shading language like Microsoft's HLSL, Nvidia's Cg, and OpenGL's GLSL are similar, they have slight syntax and usage differences.
In this case, the PS3 shading language is Nvidia's Cg with a few enhancements. So, if you wanted to write GFX for it you are going to need to Cg and you should study that (as oppossed to GLSL).
I believe this is the link you were looking for:3 /HTML/011292.html
http://www.opengl.org/discussion_boards/ubb/Forum
IIRC this was the first public discussion of the technique.
Ever heard of the game Diplomacy?
Both Opera and Firefox are rolling native SVG support into their browser. If you are unfamiliar with SVG, this site.
http://svg.codebot.org/
Kudos to the Firefox team. My web browser notified me of this update and it was automatically applied without a hitch.
So far all they've added since GTA3 is a bigger world, subpar improvements to graphics, new vehicles, new missions and new side-missions. Theres no new physics engine, no new real major additions (still no aircraft) ...
What? Aircraft have been in the game since Vice City.
No physics impovements? Did you forget that Rockstar added motorcycles and playable pool tables in VC? How about the bicycles, base jumping, and the ability to swim added in SA?
Other additions since the original GTA3 include tons of new weapons, the ability to enter stores to either buy stuff or rob them. You can now eat food, buy clothes, get tattoos, workout, get a haircut, and customize your cars with paint/suspension/nitro kits. You can then take your tricked out rides into bounce competitions. They even added schools you can attend in game for various types of vehicles (cars, motorocycles, boats, aircraft) to improve ingame control of said vehicles.
They added stats like respect, strength, body fat, and dating progress with girlfriends (yes, you can get girlfriends in the game now). Also added are mini games like gyruss, flying bee game, a DDR game, pool, and a few forms of gambling.
SA added gang wars with the ability to take over turf, getting a posse and doing drive bys, and home invasions.
Have you even played latter these games?