Oblivion trailer on Fileplanet
Mark Morrison
and taking it from there. The voice over tell you about the game as
it goes along.
Looks like I new another new graphics cards...
<sigh>
--
Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
And what's with all the carrots ?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !
Vzzbxx
"Mark Morrison" <drdp...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:2k28k11gdvb4mkt5f...@4ax.com...
Justin H.
> How about a link?
It's probably this one:
Justin H.
--
"[...]and God wants to be a DJ.
I just want to be a drummer."
Mark Morrison
wrote:
>How about a link?
Looking really nice.
Anyone got an idea of what sort of Gfx card we'll need to run it ? It
says the trees aren't pre-rendered, but are generated in real-time, so
I'm guessing my GeForce FX 5900 won't do the job, at least not at
1280x768, which I'm used to.
My CPU is a 3Ghz AMD 64, and I have 2GB of ram, so they're ok.
littlemute
http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=1688
Not sure if this is the same thing just in pieces.
Mean_Chlorine
except fileplanet?
--
"Forgive Russia. Ignore Germany. Punish France."
-- Condoleezza Rice, at the time National Security Adviser, on how to deal
with european opposition to the war in Iraq. 2003.
Highlandish
j4q8k15qsm9in186q...@4ax.com
> On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 00:50:53 +0200, Mean_Chlorine
> <mike_no...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Anyone have a reputable download site for this file? ie, anywhere
>> except fileplanet?
>
thanks
--
"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite
of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." - Niels Bohr
(1885-1962)
Take out the _CURSING to reply to me
shadows
> On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 00:50:53 +0200, Mean_Chlorine
><mike_no...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>except fileplanet?
>
Looks pretty sweet. The 3D engine is amazing. Unfortunately the
combat looks stale as it was in Elder Scrolls. They should have
taken a hint from Fable to see how 3d action ought to be
done. The animations in Fable for combat felt very fluid.
Knight37
> 20 mins long, and it's a roling demo vid, starting in your prison cell
> and taking it from there. The voice over tell you about the game as
> it goes along.
>
> Looks like I new another new graphics cards...
Holy crap! This looks awesome. Finally an RPG with graphics that exceed
most FPS games. Just hope it runs on my rig.
The AI thing looked scripted but if it's really an AI doing all of that,
WOW. Even if what they have is scripted it looked a hell of a lot better
than Morrowind's NPCs.
This one was a "kinda interested" but after seeing this it's now a MUST
HAVE!! ZOMG!!!!1!ONE
I just hope it's not bug-ridden...
--
Knight37 - http://knightgames.blogspot.com
Once a Gamer, Always a Gamer.
Knight37
> There's a bunch up on
>
> http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=1688
>
> Not sure if this is the same thing just in pieces.
Looking at the vid caps marking each of the smaller videos, yeah, it looks
like this might be the same thing broken into smaller chunks. But I'm not
going to download them all to be sure.
shadows
> Holy crap! This looks awesome. Finally an RPG with graphics that exceed
> most FPS games. Just hope it runs on my rig.
>
> The AI thing looked scripted but if it's really an AI doing all of that,
> WOW. Even if what they have is scripted it looked a hell of a lot better
> than Morrowind's NPCs.
>
> This one was a "kinda interested" but after seeing this it's now a MUST
> HAVE!! ZOMG!!!!1!ONE
>
> I just hope it's not bug-ridden...
It won't run well on anything you can build these days. You could
see a slight skip in the video and they were likely running it at
1024x768 on an SLI box.
I'm going to save myself a lot of stress by just upgrading at the
end of next year and buying the "game of the year" edition of the
game.
Mark Morrison
<mike_no...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>Anyone have a reputable download site for this file? ie, anywhere
>except fileplanet?
Fileplanet is disreputable ?
Mean_Chlorine
>>Anyone have a reputable download site for this file? ie, anywhere
>>except fileplanet?
>
>http://download.gamezone.cz/_videa/Oblivion20minGameplay.zip
Cheers!
Mean_Chlorine
>>Anyone have a reputable download site for this file? ie, anywhere
>>except fileplanet?
>
>Fileplanet is disreputable ?
Yes. Very much so.
Mean_Chlorine
>Holy crap! This looks awesome. Finally an RPG with graphics that exceed
>most FPS games. Just hope it runs on my rig.
Yeah, that was more impressive than I'd thought. The early screenshots
I'd seen didn't have dynamic lighting, so that was a big step forward.
The forest and the dungeon were the most impressive, IMO, the outdoor
scene in town was not at all as good (mainly the textures seemed to
lack detail - possibly a case of scaling to conserver RAM?).
BTW, they used the Speedtree engine for that forest; that's the same
scalable engine as will be used in Gothic3 (and a bunch of other
games), and not as demanding wrt hardware as one would think. The
actual 3D engine is apparently one called Gamebryo, which I know
nothing about, but fwiw the indoor scenes are on par with or slightly
better than Doom3 wrt detail, and if the engine is as good then it'll
probably have about the same requirements.
I'm guessing a present top-of-the-line system will run this game
comfortably.
I found it interesting how they've "gone against the stream" wrt
having blood & gore in the game, and that they'll let you kill cute &
very realistic-looking animals like deer (incidentally, shouldn't
someone license speedtree to do another Deer Hunter game?). I get the
impression they've taken a hint from Gothic2, and added that much
needed grittiness which adds so much to immersion, and was so
conspicuously absent from Morrowind.
>This one was a "kinda interested" but after seeing this it's now a MUST
>HAVE!! ZOMG!!!!1!ONE
I wasn't _that_ excited about it earlier, but now it's a definite
must-have.
Nostromo
2005 09:31:35 +0200, Anno Domini:
As much as I respect your opinion MC, you haven't said anything about
anything other than eye candy. For some us who prefer fun, gameplay &
storyline to what Bethesda have done with TES for many years now, Oblivion
will well & truly earn it's name ;) (& how appropriate it's released on
FucktardPlanet first might I add ;-p *duck*)
--
A killfile is a friend for life.
Replace 'spamfree' with the other word for 'maze' to reply via email.
Arcana Dragon
news:j4q8k15qsm9in186q...@4ax.com:
> http://download.gamezone.cz/_videa/Oblivion20minGameplay.zip
Thanks for the link!
--
Arcana Dragon -==(UDIC)==-
d++e++N++T+++Om-KAWML!34567'!S'!8!9!u+uC+uF+++uG-u
LB®----uAnC+nH++nP+nI----nPT-nS+++nT----o---oE---xz
http://www.phyton.dk/games.htm
Mean_Chlorine
>>I wasn't _that_ excited about it earlier, but now it's a definite
>>must-have.
>
>As much as I respect your opinion MC, you haven't said anything about
>anything other than eye candy.
1) Well, I've seen some screenshots & a video. The only thing I _can_
comment on is graphics.
2) I'm a graphics ho. You know the guys who say graphics isn't
important, and that only gameplay matters? I'm not one of them. I'd
possibly even play Sims if it had decent graphics.
Wolfing
specially Morrowind). Those armors look so unusable, uncomfortable to
wear with all those things. I always think 'who would wear these
things for battle???', but then I play in 1st person view so this
doesn't bother me too frequently, only when somehow the camera pans or
something
saint
wrote:
>I just hope it's not bug-ridden...
Its Bethesda. It wouldn't be Bethesda without bug-ridden software.
Mark Morrison
<mike_no...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>Thusly Mark Morrison <drdp...@aol.com> Spake Unto All:
>
>>>Anyone have a reputable download site for this file? ie, anywhere
>>>except fileplanet?
>>
>>Fileplanet is disreputable ?
>
>Yes. Very much so.
They've always been ok to me, but each to their own.
Jonah Falcon
Mark Morrison wrote:
> 20 mins long, and it's a roling demo vid, starting in your prison cell
> and taking it from there. The voice over tell you about the game as
> it goes along.
>
> Looks like I new another new graphics cards...
Just remember - Patrick Stewart is your Emperor. :p
Jonah Falcon
Nostromo
>Thusly Nostromo <nost...@spamfree.net.au> Spake Unto All:
>
>>>I wasn't _that_ excited about it earlier, but now it's a definite
>>>must-have.
>>
>>As much as I respect your opinion MC, you haven't said anything about
>>anything other than eye candy.
>
>1) Well, I've seen some screenshots & a video. The only thing I _can_
>comment on is graphics.
>2) I'm a graphics ho. You know the guys who say graphics isn't
>important, and that only gameplay matters? I'm not one of them. I'd
>possibly even play Sims if it had decent graphics.
LOL! Hey, I'm as graphics ho as the next guy, but if there's nothing but,
I'd rather just play my hi-res dvds & pr0n >;-)
look@worldnet.att.net dawg
I don't think my old FX5900 is gonna like this game.
"Mark Morrison" <drdp...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:tp88k1tep1slqtjqe...@4ax.com...
Nonymous
"shadows" <sha...@whitefang.com> wrote in message
news:slrndk8uv7....@helena.whitefang.com...
Yeah, I think I thought the same thing watching this. The environments look
incredible. But that first outside fight at that those ruins was a complete
joke. The opponent was jerkily moving like an old reject from a Sega
Genesis game. The inside fights with the skeletons and whatnot didn't look
that much better.
I know what you mean about fable, too... swing your "Great Sword" in that
game, and you could almost feel the breeze coming off the blade as you
watched it swing 'round. sweet.
Knight37
with:
> I'm guessing a present top-of-the-line system will run this game
> comfortably.
Fuck. Fuck Fuck Fuck. I just upgraded in November and I don't consider this
rig anywhere near top-of-line. But I hope to be able to play it without
having to splash out for a video card.
P4 3.2 ghz
1gb RAM
Radeon 9800 pro 128mb
I don't think I'd like the 360 version because I didn't really like the
Xbox version of MW.
Knight37
> As much as I respect your opinion MC, you haven't said anything about
> anything other than eye candy. For some us who prefer fun, gameplay &
> storyline to what Bethesda have done with TES for many years now,
> Oblivion will well & truly earn it's name ;)
I think Oblivion is going to be heads and shoulders above Morrowind in the
gameplay department. The NPCs looked like a MAJOR improvement over MW. So
was the quest system and the conversation system. The only thing that
worried me about it was that combat looked way too trivial in the demo but
they may have "uber'd" the demo chararacter so they could show more of the
demo without missing a lot and stuff. And the dungeon they showed looked
fantastic. Far from being a mere hole in the ground with mobs, it had all
kinds of cool gameplay stuff, like traps to avoid, etc. And the physics
engine was incredible and allowed for all kinds of cool gameplay choices.
Of course, this demo was specifically showing "highlight" areas of the
game. Who knows how much of it will really be as good.
Knight37
You have a point there. Well I hope it's not any more bug-ridden than
Morrowind was. :)
Knight37
> On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 09:31:34 +0200, Mean_Chlorine
><mike_no...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>Thusly Mark Morrison <drdp...@aol.com> Spake Unto All:
>>
>>>>Anyone have a reputable download site for this file? ie, anywhere
>>>>except fileplanet?
>>>
>>>Fileplanet is disreputable ?
>>
>>Yes. Very much so.
>
> They've always been ok to me, but each to their own.
>
You get what you pay for. If you pay for FP it's incredibly great. I can
download stuff from FP at my full bandwith potential, which almost never
happens on free web sites. Plus "founders club" subscribers to FP now can
get access to exclusive content on a bunch of IGN owned sites, and GameSpy.
ANd I got a free game with my sub (Chronicles of Riddick), and two free
magazine subscriptions. To me it was worth the price. I also subscribe to
Gamespot Complete so I guess I'm a real bastard to all the people who think
the net should be free.
Ross Ridge
>... I also subscribe to Gamespot Complete so I guess I'm a real bastard
>to all the people who think the net should be free.
And the fees you pay allow CNET to improve the design of the GameSpot
web site.
Ross Ridge
--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/rridge/
db //
Greg Johnson
>Mean_Chlorine <mike_no...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> once tried to test me
>with:
>
>> I'm guessing a present top-of-the-line system will run this game
>> comfortably.
>
>Fuck. Fuck Fuck Fuck. I just upgraded in November and I don't consider this
>rig anywhere near top-of-line. But I hope to be able to play it without
>having to splash out for a video card.
>
>P4 3.2 ghz
>1gb RAM
>Radeon 9800 pro 128mb
Supposedly the developer systems were
2.8GHz CPU
1Gb RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro 256Mb
So I'd expect you to be able to play it, but not with best graphics
settings.
--
Greg Johnson
Mark Morrison
I see what you mean - I subscribed to FP as soon as I got broadband,
and never regretted it. And now they're offering exclusing betas,
it's even better - I've just put my name in the hat for the City of
Villians beta that starts on the 14th.
I can understand people's complaining if it was a small site asking
people to pay for downloads, but it's freaking huge - I couldn't
imagine how much bandwidth they use in a month.
Gerry Quinn
greg...@gmail.com says...
>
> >
> >P4 3.2 ghz
> >1gb RAM
> >Radeon 9800 pro 128mb
>
> Supposedly the developer systems were
> 2.8GHz CPU
> 1Gb RAM
> Radeon 9800 Pro 256Mb
>
> So I'd expect you to be able to play it, but not with best graphics
> settings.
I've a P4-3GHz and 1GB RAM on my laptop (yes, I do have some numbness
in the toes), but my graphics card is a Radeon Mobility 9700 128Mb. So
far it happily handles everything I throw at it, including Morrowind.
Any idea how it compares to the modern high-end card such as the one
the developers used?
- Gerry Quinn
Werner Spahl
> I can understand people's complaining if it was a small site asking
> people to pay for downloads, but it's freaking huge - I couldn't
> imagine how much bandwidth they use in a month.
Also they offer to mirror almost anything contrary to other great sites
like 3dgamers and when downloading outside the rush hours even the free
public servers are fast here from europe.
Regarding the trailer itself, I noticed that the dynamic lighting and
soft shadows were shown in some scenes but were strangely absent in most
others and the facial expressions aren't as well as e.g. HL2 or VTMB.
--
Werner Spahl (sp...@cup.uni-muenchen.de) Freedom for
"The meaning of my life is to make me crazy" Vorlonships
Greg Johnson
<ger...@DELETETHISindigo.ie> wrote:
>I've a P4-3GHz and 1GB RAM on my laptop (yes, I do have some numbness
>in the toes), but my graphics card is a Radeon Mobility 9700 128Mb. So
>far it happily handles everything I throw at it, including Morrowind.
>
>Any idea how it compares to the modern high-end card such as the one
>the developers used?
I don't have any benchmarks that compare the two directly, but the 9700
Mobility generally seems to score just a little slower(~5-10%) than the
9600 Pro on most tests. The 9800 Pro usually scores about 150% the speed
of the 9600 Pro. So your card is probably about 55-60% as fast as the
ones the developers used.
You might also find these web forum threads helpful.
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=169519
http://tinyurl.com/a8jfq
--
Greg Johnson
Mean_Chlorine
>Regarding the trailer itself, I noticed that the dynamic lighting and
>soft shadows were shown in some scenes but were strangely absent in most
>others
Notably the city scene, yes. Like I said, the screenshots I saw some
months ago didn't seem to have dynamic lighting, so possibly this is
something they've just recently added, and parts of the video was shot
before that. Or it's only used in indoor environments.
littlemute
won't go to waste. I also suspect that they will be a lot more devious
with the monster placement, traps, ruses and stuff like that (not like
Doom3 where everything is a big trap around every corner but not just
'guards' who stand there and wait to be murdalized). My favorite bits
of morrowind are getting horrible revenge on that pufias that ambushed
me with her invisible mate when I went down into the pond to get her
ring, and the part in Mournhold where you fall through the floor
(though the fact that they didn't have destructable environments
lessened the effect a bit) into the Goblin cave. It will be beautiful
to have your character killed by an obvious trap no matter what level
he/she is at (and of course to use them against the enemies and get
them squished).
The level designers look like they have a ton more tools and are
building out many more areas instead of just lego-ing together a bunch
of stuff from a generic hallway library.
Mirror Spock
I liked the woman practicing her archery and casting spells on her
dog.
* Robinson
littlemute
Michael Cecil wrote:
>
> Well, I'm sure some stuff is scripted but that's good. You don't want the
> main plot to progress while you're not around, at least not too much. Not
> like STALKER where AI-driven NPC opponents can finish the game before you.
>
Woah. Can you elaborate on this? I've never played the game.
Obligatory stalker link:
Mark Morrison
<mac...@comcast.net> wrote:
>On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 08:33:39 +0100, Mark Morrison <drdp...@aol.com>
>wrote:
>
>>I can understand people's complaining if it was a small site asking
>>people to pay for downloads, but it's freaking huge - I couldn't
>>imagine how much bandwidth they use in a month.
>
>Maybe people don't want to have to register or pay to download free betas
>and demos which are advertising.
Then they are free not to - however, to then complain about having to
wait in a download quese is ridiculous. It's free, for fuck's sake,
and you get what you pay for.
As for the betas - again, you can either pay a few quid a month and
see what the new MMORPG is like, or go to the store and pay £30 when
it's released, and see what it's like. I've don't know how much money
I've saved by taking part in Fileplanet betas and then not buying the
games - for example, Lineage 2 looked fun. I tried the beta for free
through fileplanet, and hated the game - the £30 I saved pretty much
paid for that year's subscription.
Azagthoth
Mark Morrison wrote:
> I tried the beta for free
> through fileplanet, and hated the game - the £30 I saved pretty much
> paid for that year's subscription.
This cannot be overestimated. I, too, have NOT bought games that I
might have shelled cash out for in the past because I played an FP beta
(the Matrix MMRPG comes to mind).
That said, I've also picked up several games that I enjoyed
beta-testing. Besides, it's really cool to get to play upcoming games
before they're released.
I personally love my FP subscription, and yes it is FAST.
Brian
DocScorpio
"Mark Morrison" <drdp...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:tp88k1tep1slqtjqe...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 17:27:16 GMT, "Vzzbxx" <some...@nowhere.com>
> wrote:
>
>>How about a link?
>
> http://www.fileplanet.com/157380/150000/fileinfo/The-Elder-Scrolls-IV:-Oblivion-Gameplay-Footage-[20-Mins]
>
> Looking really nice.
>
> Anyone got an idea of what sort of Gfx card we'll need to run it ? It
> says the trees aren't pre-rendered, but are generated in real-time, so
> I'm guessing my GeForce FX 5900 won't do the job, at least not at
> 1280x768, which I'm used to.
>
> My CPU is a 3Ghz AMD 64, and I have 2GB of ram, so they're ok.
>
>
> Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
> They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
> And what's with all the carrots ?
> What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
> Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !
I'm embarrassed to say that I can't even get the trailer to run properly in
media player. I get sound (i.e. the developer's narration and music) but no
visuals (beyond some kind of swirling graphic that I think is part of MP).
The trailer file is 122.9 megs unzipped. I don't know much about Media
Player so I don't know what the problem is. Running MP v. 10.00.3646 on a
P4 3.4, 1 gig RAM, GF6800 GTO, XP SP2 Home. Any ideas?
Mark Morrison
Sounds like you're missing the video codec - go to
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
and get G-Spot. It's an AVI analyser that will look at the vid and
tell you what codec you need, and link you to it.
In all probablility, though, you just need the latest divx codec, from
http://www.divx.com/divx/play/download/ - I'd try this first (although
G-Spot is a nifty little tool)
Michael Vondung
> This cannot be overestimated.
Yes, it can be. There is something fundamentally flawed about people having
to *pay* to play a demo or participate in a beta test. The former equals
paying for an advertisement product (ever had to pay for a food sample in a
supermarket?), and the latter is pretty much free work for a company that
is selling the game that you do QA for. There is nothing wrong with
volunteering time or knowledge, but it puzzles me that people are willing
to actually *pay* for it.
Certainly, you can rationalize that you somehow save money by playing games
that you won't end up paying for, but you *do* pay for them, just not
directly.
> That said, I've also picked up several games that I enjoyed
> beta-testing.
So not only did you not get any compensation (free copy) for your
beta-testing, but actually *paid* for it, and then you bought the final
product and paid again. I'm not saying you should be getting anything, but
that you actually find it perfectly fine that you didn't get anything *and*
paid for testing a commercial product that you then later had to pay for
again, that puzzles me, really.
M.
Courageous
>So not only did you not get any compensation (free copy) for your
>beta-testing, but actually *paid* for it, and then you bought the final
>product and paid again. I'm not saying you should be getting anything, but
>that you actually find it perfectly fine that you didn't get anything *and*
>paid for testing a commercial product that you then later had to pay for
>again, that puzzles me, really.
I wonder why it would puzzle you. You're literate, and obviously intelligent;
it shouldn't be too hard for you to see how some people (not people like you,
yes, we can see that) might like participating in something as it forms. Why
should this astonish you so much?
The open source community must puzzle you more.
C//
jwb
news:iubek1pi6jvi97rd2...@4ax.com...
> Exactly. I'd rather get my demos and betas free and faster than
> FilePlanet. Just because your average joeblow can't find them to download
> doesn't mean they aren't there. So all the people who are ignorant of
> this thing called "searching" can pony up some $$ to be unpaid testers,
> while the rest of us will sit back laughing as we have already downloaded
> the same demos and betas several hours or days earlier for free.
To me, it's worth it to not have to search for every demo / patch / mod /
etc that I want. The fee is essentially peanuts.
People who don't want to search might not be ignorant. Their time might be
worth a lot more to them than yours is to you. Different strokes. Doesn't
mean either is right or wrong, but people who think differently about it
than you do certainly do not deserve your scorn.
Michael Vondung
> I wonder why it would puzzle you. You're literate, and obviously intelligent;
> it shouldn't be too hard for you to see how some people (not people like you,
> yes, we can see that) might like participating in something as it forms. Why
> should this astonish you so much?
Because they are not participating in forming the product. They only do QA
or pay for something that they should normally receive at least thanks for.
I've been partaking in a larger number of alpha and beta tests, but it
would never occur to me to actually pay for this "privilege", because I am
already offering my time and my experience. Some companies supplied a free
copy of the final product as a thank-you, others didn't, but none of them
actually wanted me to pay them. The key point here is really that you not
only do a favour to the company, but are expected to pay for it.
Then again, these Fileplanet betas seem to be little more than slightly
disguised demo versions. Though in this case the "sample demo" analogy
applies: If a hot girl in a supermarket offers me a sample of a delicious
sausage, I'll smile at her and happily sample the offered product, but I
would not pay for the privilege of eating a sample whose purpose it is to
convince me of purchasing the product. If I like the sample, I'll buy the
product, but I'm not going to pay for the advertisement.
> The open source community must puzzle you more.
Actually, no. I've done a fair deal of volunteer work in my life, even for
commercial institutions who I knew profited from my work, so it's not alien
or strange to me if people do something for others without getting paid for
it. Sometimes a volunteer job turned into a real job (or at least looked
good on the resumee), other times I was just in it for the experience, but
I was never asked to *pay* for the privilege of volunteering my own time.
I believe the open source movement is a Good Thing and actually makes a lot
of sense (even for enterprises: paying for the service, but not for the
software), but this isn't really related to the topic at hand: companies
charging you for their demos and betas.
I realise that bandwidth isn't free (that includes my own). But by the time
I get to the download link at Fileplanet, I have already viewed a ton of
ads, so I'm not expecting anything for free. Just clicking my way through
to the demo generated revenue. The system is somewhat counter-productive
for the companies, too. If I have to wait 40 minutes before I can download
an advertisment/demo, I'll just pass. Unless it's a top title, I'll thus
never be tempted to buy the game.
M.
Michael Vondung
> People who don't want to search might not be ignorant. Their time might be
> worth a lot more to them than yours is to you. Different strokes. Doesn't
> mean either is right or wrong, but people who think differently about it
> than you do certainly do not deserve your scorn.
That's a fair point. The trouble here is that these few people who are
willing to pay for downloading demos might change the gaming life of others
also. I remember a time when demos were available on FTP servers of their
publishers. Then, later, they were available on ad-infected web sites, but
stlll free. Publishers had an interest to make demos available as
painlessly as possible, because they were meant to wet the appetite of the
potential buyer. Now the trend is going towards "pay to try", which does
affect me, because if this proves to be luctrative for companies, they
might focus even more on it, which then affects the entire scene
(community).
> To me, it's worth it to not have to search for every demo / patch / mod /
> etc that I want. The fee is essentially peanuts.
I can usually get all of my demos at http://www.gamershell.com and my
patches at http://www.patches-scrolls.de/ so this isn't much more
time-consuming. Both sites load fast, too. What concerns me is the trend
towards "pay to try", which, in my opinion, is the wrong approach and not
in the best interest of us, the customers.
I agree with you, though, that opinions are always of equal value.
M.
jwb
news:fk5uevejdum1$.14eljkqdfvpms$.dlg@40tude.net...
> On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 02:49:26 GMT, jwb wrote:
>
>> People who don't want to search might not be ignorant. Their time might
>> be
>> worth a lot more to them than yours is to you. Different strokes. Doesn't
>> mean either is right or wrong, but people who think differently about it
>> than you do certainly do not deserve your scorn.
>
> That's a fair point. The trouble here is that these few people who are
> willing to pay for downloading demos might change the gaming life of
> others
> also. I remember a time when demos were available on FTP servers of their
> publishers. Then, later, they were available on ad-infected web sites, but
> stlll free.
wait, last I checked, you can still download demos on File Planet for free,
right? You just have to wait in line. I think that's a fair trade. Or am I
wrong and they've gone to all pay?
Publishers had an interest to make demos available as
> painlessly as possible, because they were meant to wet the appetite of the
> potential buyer. Now the trend is going towards "pay to try", which does
> affect me, because if this proves to be luctrative for companies, they
> might focus even more on it, which then affects the entire scene
> (community).
I agree, but these days, demos are big. It simply costs too much money to
host them. The cost will be passed on either way. One could argue that free
demo's affect the retail price for the community who has no interest in a
demo version (which is many times pretty far from what the actual game will
be)
>
>> To me, it's worth it to not have to search for every demo / patch / mod /
>> etc that I want. The fee is essentially peanuts.
>
> I can usually get all of my demos at http://www.gamershell.com and my
> patches at http://www.patches-scrolls.de/ so this isn't much more
> time-consuming. Both sites load fast, too. What concerns me is the trend
> towards "pay to try", which, in my opinion, is the wrong approach and not
> in the best interest of us, the customers.
>
> I agree with you, though, that opinions are always of equal value.
Thanks for the links. Can never have too many.
Michael Vondung
> wait, last I checked, you can still download demos on File Planet for free,
> right? You just have to wait in line. I think that's a fair trade. Or am I
> wrong and they've gone to all pay?
You're right, paying is still optional, but it does create a "two classes"
society and the trend seems to go towards "pay to try". An hour ago, I went
to download a file from FP and the public servers had a line of at least
forty minutes. I went to Fileshack instead and got it there with only
sixteen seconds of wait. (It wasn't a demo, but the free expansion of
Railroad Tycoon 3, so it doesn't really serve as a good example here.) My
main "issue" here is actually that I have to use third party services at
all. If, say, Atari releases a demo, I really want to be to able to
download it from their own site, not from anywhere else. If I end up
buying the game, they'll get my money, too. Targets of my critcism aren't
so much third-party providers like Fileplanet, but publishers who don't
offer demos on their own site.
> I agree, but these days, demos are big. It simply costs too much money to
> host them. The cost will be passed on either way. One could argue that free
> demo's affect the retail price for the community who has no interest in a
> demo version (which is many times pretty far from what the actual game will
> be)
Well, yes, advertising your product costs money, that's true for any
industry. If I get little flasks of shampoo, then someone has to pay for
that too, and it's probably not cheap, either (demo people in malls get
something like 12,50 an hour, and that's without the "material"). Nobody
expects me to pay for the bottle with the sample, though. In case of game
demos there is also the aspect that it does cost the user bandwidth to
download the demo, too. Bandwidth is not infinite.
> Thanks for the links. Can never have too many.
Welcome. The Patch-Scrolls site is really great for patches and updates,
especially since they keep a lot of the older stuff also. Gamershell has
most of the more recent demos with quite a few mirrors... they have
relatively few ads, which is why I like them. The site loads faster than,
say, Gamespot or FP, which are extremely slow for me.
M.
jwb
> Well, yes, advertising your product costs money, that's true for any
> industry. If I get little flasks of shampoo, then someone has to pay for
> that too, and it's probably not cheap, either (demo people in malls get
> something like 12,50 an hour, and that's without the "material"). Nobody
> expects me to pay for the bottle with the sample, though. In case of game
> demos there is also the aspect that it does cost the user bandwidth to
> download the demo, too. Bandwidth is not infinite.
I agree it would be nice for a publisher to host their own demo.
But I'm wondering if a demo is really smart advertising anymore. After all,
many many big games forgo it, with seemingly no real effect on sales. I know
in a few recent cases ("Nexus, the Jupiter Incident" springs to mind), the
demo actually had the opposite effect - it was so poorly implemented that it
kept me from buying the game (and I would have likely bought it if there
wasn't a demo). There have been other pretty crappy demos that made me say
"no thanks".
Michael Vondung
> There have been other pretty crappy demos that made me say
> "no thanks".
This is true for me, too. There've been a number of games that I didn't buy
after playing (or: because of) the demo. But the same really applies to all
kinds of demos, ranging from shampoo samples to sausage snacks offered in
supermarkets. If you dislike the product that you sampled, then you won't
buy it. In the mall example, the company loses some of the product and the
money they pay to their demo person, in case of games it's the money for
the bandwidth that's at stake.
Charging for demos offers a second venue of making money, but I don't know
if that's beneficial for us (the gamers). I absolutely agree that creating
a demo is a double-sided blade, because it may scare away customers, so I
think a publisher or developer needs to be really sure of their game before
they decide to release a demo (there seem to be fewer demos these days). If
I am unsure about a title, I won't buy it without looking at a demo, but
there also have been games that I didn't buy after playing the demo. So,
it's risky and can go both ways. If I had broadband instead of ISDN, I
would probably download even demos of games that I consider "sure
purchases", which would probably result in more "no buys".
M.
Mike S.
<mac...@comcast.net> wrote:
>That was amusing. If they turned that level of AI on for all the NPCs
>even when the player isn't watching, that city would be, ah, interesting
>to walk through.
This interested me more then the pretty graphics did. Watching that
lady go about her business reminded me of Ultima 7's level of realism.
I can not believe that the sequel to Morrowind (a game I did not like
at all) is reminding me of my favorite CRPG. But the reviews are going
to have to convince me that there is an actual game to play this time
around before I pick it up.
DocScorpio
>>
> Sounds like you're missing the video codec - go to
> http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
>
> and get G-Spot. It's an AVI analyser that will look at the vid and
> tell you what codec you need, and link you to it.
>
> In all probablility, though, you just need the latest divx codec, from
> http://www.divx.com/divx/play/download/ - I'd try this first (although
> G-Spot is a nifty little tool)
>
> --
>
> Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
> They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
> And what's with all the carrots ?
> What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
> Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !
Yeah, I needed the latest divx; runs fine now. Thanks.
Gorgeous eye candy, but will the game-play be much changed from MW? Guess
we'll know at Xmas. Loved the narration about how the dog-AI searches out
the deer meat because it needs to eat. After my dog eats, she immediately
needs to go out an defecate. Will the dog-AI do the same? Will my char be
stepping in something nasty on his way out of the weird chick's pad. What
about that invite upstairs in the first place. Is my char going to get some
"hot coffee"? You know there's a whole realm of untapped possibilities
here, something that could really breathe some life back into this tired,
fantasy-world thing.
Gerry Quinn
greg...@gmail.com says...
> On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 11:12:48 +0100, Gerry Quinn
> <ger...@DELETETHISindigo.ie> wrote:
>
> >I've a P4-3GHz and 1GB RAM on my laptop (yes, I do have some numbness
> >in the toes), but my graphics card is a Radeon Mobility 9700 128Mb. So
> >far it happily handles everything I throw at it, including Morrowind.
> >
> >Any idea how it compares to the modern high-end card such as the one
> >the developers used?
>
> I don't have any benchmarks that compare the two directly, but the 9700
> Mobility generally seems to score just a little slower(~5-10%) than the
> 9600 Pro on most tests. The 9800 Pro usually scores about 150% the speed
> of the 9600 Pro. So your card is probably about 55-60% as fast as the
> ones the developers used.
That seems all right, so.
- Gerry Quinn
Mark Morrison
Funny - when she invited the guy upstairs, my first though was "Great
! Wait for her to fall asleep and then ransack her shop !"
Mark Morrison
<mac...@comcast.net> wrote:
>Joining Fileplanet is like going through a credit application process at
>an auto dealer and then having to pay to test drive a car, no matter if
>you actually decide to buy it.
Actually, it isn't - it's like paying the dealer to get preferential
treating, getting to test drive cars ahead of non-pying people, and
getting to test-drive cars exclusively, before they're released to the
general population.
I don't know about you, but I have a job, and so don't want to sit in
a queue for hours at an end waiting for a chance to get a demo. I'd
rather pay the small amount (about the cost of - what ? A few snacks
and a big bottle of coke ? and be downloading in seconds.
And not to mention the interview videos, patches, mods, etc. I know
you'll say "Oh, but you can get them elsewhere for free" but I'm happy
to pay to have them all in one place.
It's like paying for a taxi, when you could walk or get a bus - it
costs more, but you get to where you want to go faster.
Mean_Chlorine
>that you actually find it perfectly fine that you didn't get anything *and*
>paid for testing a commercial product that you then later had to pay for
>again, that puzzles me, really.
WRT MMORPG it's crucial to be in the beta, because being in the beta
means you don't have a leg, but a whole centipede, up on those who buy
the game at release. A head start they are unlikely to ever be able to
catch up. If you want to be uber in a MMORPG, you want to be in the
beta.
That's why there were such hysterics (including suicide threats) when
the WoW beta accounts were doled out.
The reason I hate filesplanet isn't because they charge, but because
they pretend not to. If you're _not_ a paying member, you need to jump
hoops, watch tons of ads, hunt intentionally microscopic download
links intentionally buried among big steaming heaps of banners & ad
links, only to find that the download is either intentionally slowed
or, very frequently, the link broken. Also quite possibly
intentionally.
If you're not a paying member, fileplanet is pretty much unusable and
perhaps the most aggravating non-warez site on the planet. If they
went pure payment I'd not have a problem with them - but then people
wouldn't deposit as much stuff with them. So instead they offer "free"
downloads and simply make it very hard or impossible for non-paying
users to download.
Andrew
wrote:
>It's like paying for a taxi, when you could walk or get a bus - it
>costs more, but you get to where you want to go faster.
Nice analogy :-)
--
Andrew, contact via interpleb.blogspot.com
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.
Andrew
<mike_no...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>The reason I hate filesplanet isn't because they charge, but because
>they pretend not to. If you're _not_ a paying member, you need to jump
>hoops, watch tons of ads, hunt intentionally microscopic download
>links intentionally buried among big steaming heaps of banners & ad
>links, only to find that the download is either intentionally slowed
>or, very frequently, the link broken. Also quite possibly
>intentionally.
I am not the worlds biggest fan of FP, but the above scenario isn't my
experience. I usually find what I want quickly and join the queue for
public downloads without any great issues. The only thing I really
don't like is that the downloads only work in IE rather than my much
preferred Firefox.
Greg Johnson
>The only thing I really
>don't like is that the downloads only work in IE rather than my much
>preferred Firefox.
Fileplanet does work in Firefox 1.0.7, at least for me. I do wind up
with a few error messages, but the queueing works and I eventually get
the file.
--
Greg Johnson
Mean_Chlorine
Fileplanet frequently works with 1.0.4, at least for me. I do wind up
with error messages, and finding the links is usually a pain and I'm
not always successful, but the queuing works and once I've skipped,
weaved, dodged & jumped enough to reach that stage, I usually but not
always eventually get the file unless I tire of the very slow download
speed and cancel the download.
Andrew
wrote:
>Fileplanet does work in Firefox 1.0.7, at least for me. I do wind up
>with a few error messages, but the queueing works and I eventually get
>the file.
Thanks, I haven't tried it in a while, so I guess FF or FP sorted
something out :-)
Mark Morrison
wrote:
>On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 12:06:52 +0200, Mean_Chlorine
><mike_no...@NOSPAMyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>The reason I hate filesplanet isn't because they charge, but because
>>they pretend not to. If you're _not_ a paying member, you need to jump
>>hoops, watch tons of ads, hunt intentionally microscopic download
>>links intentionally buried among big steaming heaps of banners & ad
>>links, only to find that the download is either intentionally slowed
>>or, very frequently, the link broken. Also quite possibly
>>intentionally.
>
>I am not the worlds biggest fan of FP, but the above scenario isn't my
>experience. I usually find what I want quickly and join the queue for
>public downloads without any great issues. The only thing I really
>don't like is that the downloads only work in IE rather than my much
>preferred Firefox.
It works fine in Opera.
Clintok
> an auto dealer and then having to pay to test drive a car, no matter if
> you actually decide to buy it.
I would pay $80 a month to have one track where I could test drive every new
car and bike. I know some gearheads who would probably pay a few hundred a
month. :-)
Knight37
> Knight37 <knig...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>... I also subscribe to Gamespot Complete so I guess I'm a real bastard
>>to all the people who think the net should be free.
>
> And the fees you pay allow CNET to improve the design of the GameSpot
> web site.
Yeah I'm hating it now. Those bastards. But I do like having access to all
their back reviews and videos and stuff.
--
Knight37 - http://knightgames.blogspot.com
Once a Gamer, Always a Gamer.
Knight37
> On 7 Oct 2005 15:55:20 -0700, Azagthoth wrote:
>
>> This cannot be overestimated.
>
> Yes, it can be. There is something fundamentally flawed about people
> having to *pay* to play a demo or participate in a beta test. The
> former equals paying for an advertisement product (ever had to pay for
> a food sample in a supermarket?), and the latter is pretty much free
> work for a company that is selling the game that you do QA for. There
> is nothing wrong with volunteering time or knowledge, but it puzzles
> me that people are willing to actually *pay* for it.
I consider it more of a service. I'm not paying for the beta, I'm not
paying for the demos, videos, mods, and shit. I'm paying to have someone do
all the grunt work of finding out about this stuff and putting it in one
easy and fast place to get it so I don't have to do the research. I'm also
paying for extra content on web sites. That's no different than buying a
magazine. And furthermore, I'm paying for a FREE GAME, that I got with my
subscription, so that mitigated a bunch of the cost right there.
> So not only did you not get any compensation (free copy) for your
> beta-testing, but actually *paid* for it, and then you bought the
> final product and paid again. I'm not saying you should be getting
> anything, but that you actually find it perfectly fine that you didn't
> get anything *and* paid for testing a commercial product that you then
> later had to pay for again, that puzzles me, really.
You're living in the past. That's not what "beta" means now. Beta isn't the
real testing of the software, beta is just stress testing for servers now.
Most betas on FP are near-complete games, it's not work to play them, it's
pretty much like playing the final game.
And also it's not like many people on FP are actually beta testing these
"betas". Sure a few will report bugs, but it's not like anyone treats it
like work. Just play it, and see how the game is. It's like a demo, only a
demo for online games where you would need a key. For some games this is
the ONLY way to get a demo in the early months of release. For example I
played in the World of Warcraft beta (late, the one right before release)
and I didn't find any bugs to report, but I did really enjoy it and thought
it was a great demo of the product. So of course I bought it when it came
out.
Why should they pay me to do that? Why should they pay me to get to see
their game early? And especially, why should they give their game away for
free just because I got to demo the game early?
Knight37
> Then again, these Fileplanet betas seem to be little more than
> slightly disguised demo versions.
Exactly.
> Though in this case the "sample
> demo" analogy applies: If a hot girl in a supermarket offers me a
> sample of a delicious sausage, I'll smile at her and happily sample
> the offered product, but I would not pay for the privilege of eating a
> sample whose purpose it is to convince me of purchasing the product.
> If I like the sample, I'll buy the product, but I'm not going to pay
> for the advertisement.
You ever buy a magazine? You paid for the ads. You buy cable TV? You paid
for the ads. You ever paid for a web-based subscription? You might pay for
ads there too (although most use ad-removal as a come-on).
> I realise that bandwidth isn't free (that includes my own). But by the
> time I get to the download link at Fileplanet, I have already viewed a
> ton of ads, so I'm not expecting anything for free. Just clicking my
> way through to the demo generated revenue.
If you're a FP subscriber you can disable the ads.
> The system is somewhat
> counter-productive for the companies, too. If I have to wait 40
> minutes before I can download an advertisment/demo, I'll just pass.
> Unless it's a top title, I'll thus never be tempted to buy the game.
If you are a FP subscriber you don't wait 40 minutes, it takes seconds to
start the download, and at speeds no other site can touch. You can
consider that 40 minute wait and wading through ads your "fee" for using
their bandwith instead of subscribing for it.
Knight37
> On Sat, 8 Oct 2005 03:30:13 +0200, Michael Vondung
> <mvon...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On 7 Oct 2005 15:55:20 -0700, Azagthoth wrote:
>>
>>> This cannot be overestimated.
>>
>>Yes, it can be. There is something fundamentally flawed about people
>>having to *pay* to play a demo or participate in a beta test. The
>>former equals paying for an advertisement product (ever had to pay for
>>a food sample in a supermarket?), and the latter is pretty much free
>>work for a company that is selling the game that you do QA for. There
>>is nothing wrong with volunteering time or knowledge, but it puzzles
>>me that people are willing to actually *pay* for it.
>>
>>Certainly, you can rationalize that you somehow save money by playing
>>games that you won't end up paying for, but you *do* pay for them,
>>just not directly.
>>
>>> That said, I've also picked up several games that I enjoyed
>>> beta-testing.
>>
>>So not only did you not get any compensation (free copy) for your
>>beta-testing, but actually *paid* for it, and then you bought the
>>final product and paid again. I'm not saying you should be getting
>>anything, but that you actually find it perfectly fine that you didn't
>>get anything *and* paid for testing a commercial product that you then
>>later had to pay for again, that puzzles me, really.
>>
>>M.
>
> Exactly. I'd rather get my demos and betas free and faster than
> FilePlanet. Just because your average joeblow can't find them to
> download doesn't mean they aren't there. So all the people who are
> ignorant of this thing called "searching" can pony up some $$ to be
> unpaid testers, while the rest of us will sit back laughing as we have
> already downloaded the same demos and betas several hours or days
> earlier for free.
LOL. Yeah right. Many times FP gets betas and demos long before other sites
do. And the speed of the download is nothing short of astounding.
> Joining Fileplanet is like going through a credit application process
> at an auto dealer and then having to pay to test drive a car, no
> matter if you actually decide to buy it.
No, it's not like that at all. It's like paying to get a very nice service
and saving my time from having to scourge all over the web to find stuff
when I can just go immediately to what I'm looking for and get it as fast
as possible.
Knight37
> Charging for demos offers a second venue of making money, but I don't
> know if that's beneficial for us (the gamers).
No one charges for demos. They charge for bandwidth and convenience. If you
can find a place that will sell you bandwith for free (or more likely, for
a chance to flash ads at you), then that's great. But the demo itself isn't
what is being paid for.
Knight37
> I am not the worlds biggest fan of FP, but the above scenario isn't my
> experience. I usually find what I want quickly and join the queue for
> public downloads without any great issues. The only thing I really
> don't like is that the downloads only work in IE rather than my much
> preferred Firefox.
FP works fine with Firefox for me. Of course, I subscribe so maybe it's
something to do with the download queue that doesn't work.
Mean_Chlorine
>> Charging for demos offers a second venue of making money, but I don't
>> know if that's beneficial for us (the gamers).
>
>No one charges for demos. They charge for bandwidth and convenience.
IMO you pay for a service. That service is the ability to log in and
download stuff. That makes it a bit blurry what you're really paying
for - if you go to a restaurant which offers "eat all you can for
$15", are you paying for the food or the access to the restaurant?
DocScorpio
>>
> Funny - when she invited the guy upstairs, my first though was "Great
> ! Wait for her to fall asleep and then ransack her shop !"
>
> --
>
> Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes !
> They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses !
> And what's with all the carrots ?
> What do they need such good eyesight for anyway ?
> Bunnies ! Bunnies ! It must be BUNNIES !
Heh, heh, you've been playing these games too long. Seemed to me that she
was offering an invite to do the nasty. But, hey, you could always ransack
her shop....afterward. That's a twofer. Wonder if the AI models sexually
transmitted diseases (Arrrh, that hurts! Got to find a nature priest and
get this thing cured).
Courageous
>Heh, heh, you've been playing these games too long. Seemed to me that she
>was offering an invite to do the nasty. But, hey, you could always ransack
>her shop....afterward. That's a twofer. Wonder if the AI models sexually
>transmitted diseases (Arrrh, that hurts! Got to find a nature priest and
>get this thing cured).
Well there is the risk of too much detail. Imagine if the prostitute was a
male transvestite, held you against your will, used you thoroughly, and you
had to spend the next month wearing diapers. You could spend a good chunk of
the game hunting for stores that otherwise ordinarily cater to the elderly
incontinent.
C//
Mean_Chlorine
>Imagine if the prostitute was a
>male transvestite, held you against your will, used you thoroughly, and you
>had to spend the next month wearing diapers.
I suspect there's a story here, and I hope to God I never get to hear
it.
Mark Morrison
<docsc...@strupra-spammeros.com> wrote:
>
>"Mark Morrison" <drdp...@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:gc5fk1hq315j386ds...@4ax.com...
>> On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 06:33:38 GMT, "DocScorpio"
>> <docsc...@strupra-spammeros.com> wrote:
>>
>[snip[
>>>
>> Funny - when she invited the guy upstairs, my first though was "Great
>> ! Wait for her to fall asleep and then ransack her shop !"
>>
>> --
>
>Heh, heh, you've been playing these games too long. Seemed to me that she
>was offering an invite to do the nasty. But, hey, you could always ransack
>her shop....afterward. That's a twofer. Wonder if the AI models sexually
>transmitted diseases (Arrrh, that hurts! Got to find a nature priest and
>get this thing cured).
>
That'd be fun, actually - in Morrowind you could 'catch' Vampirism and
Lycathopy...
Michael Vondung
> LOL. Yeah right. Many times FP gets betas and demos long before other sites
> do.
I believe that this is something that hurts the publishers at least in
regard to PR. Let's say FP gets a cool demo long before other sites and FP
subscribers talk about it excitedly. Normally when I hear good stuff about
a game, I go and check it out. Now if I then learn that the demo is for
susbcribers only and no other site offers it at the time I look for it,
it's very unlikely that I'll make the effort of checking it out again a few
weeks later. (Unless it's a top-notch title I have been looking forward to,
but these are rare.)
M.
Courageous
>>Imagine if the prostitute was a
>>male transvestite, held you against your will, used you thoroughly, and you
>>had to spend the next month wearing diapers.
>I suspect there's a story here, and I hope to God I never get to hear
>it.
It could almost have been written into a bizzarre far off corner of a
fallout map. "Will you take her to be your, ah...., lawfully wedded,
ah... OTHER?"
C//
Knight37
with:
> Thusly Knight37 <knig...@gmail.com> Spake Unto All:
>
>>> Charging for demos offers a second venue of making money, but I don't
>>> know if that's beneficial for us (the gamers).
>>
>>No one charges for demos. They charge for bandwidth and convenience.
>
> IMO you pay for a service. That service is the ability to log in and
> download stuff. That makes it a bit blurry what you're really paying
> for - if you go to a restaurant which offers "eat all you can for
> $15", are you paying for the food or the access to the restaurant?
What about a dating service? Are you paying for hawt chix, or are you just
paying for the convience and service of meeting them easily?
shadows
> On Fri, 07 Oct 2005 11:07:52 -0500, Michael Cecil
><mac...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>That was amusing. If they turned that level of AI on for all the NPCs
>>even when the player isn't watching, that city would be, ah, interesting
>>to walk through.
>
> This interested me more then the pretty graphics did. Watching that
> lady go about her business reminded me of Ultima 7's level of realism.
> I can not believe that the sequel to Morrowind (a game I did not like
> at all) is reminding me of my favorite CRPG. But the reviews are going
> to have to convince me that there is an actual game to play this time
> around before I pick it up.
This level of "realism" never really interested me. It's not that
difficult to implement on their end (Ultima 7 had it), and it
doesn't add THAT much to the game. In fact it detracts from it a
little. I remember in Morrowind they had quests which would
require you to be at a certain place at a certain time.
Do you have any idea how annoying it is to just sit there waiting
for an event? I prefer WoW's method of NPCs sitting there ready
to hand you quests when you get there.
Mike S.
wrote:
>This level of "realism" never really interested me. It's not that
>difficult to implement on their end (Ultima 7 had it), and it
>doesn't add THAT much to the game.
It adds immersion, which is important to me because I don't get that
very much anymore.
Andrew
>I never really liked the art style of the Elder scrolls (well,
>specially Morrowind). Those armors look so unusable, uncomfortable to
>wear with all those things. I always think 'who would wear these
>things for battle???'
I think that anytime I look at real suits of armour that people did
wear.
Courageous
>I think that anytime I look at real suits of armour that people did
>wear.
And I'm pretty sure that most of them were actually less comfortable
than they look. :)
C//
Gerry Quinn
mvon...@gmail.com says...
Arguably there is no need for everyone to have access to a demo, so
long as there are enough to make it obvious that the game is good.
- Gerry Quinn
mike_no...@yahoo.co.uk
Knight37 wrote:
> What about a dating service? Are you paying for hawt chix, or are you just
> paying for the convience and service of meeting them easily?
I'd say the line is blurry. That was my point. What do you feel you're
paying for?
shadows
Granted, but I've outgrown that aspect of CRPGs. I'm more
interested in story, action, and customization than I am in
seeing a baker go to work every morning.
Michael Vondung
> I suspect there's a story here, and I hope to God I never get to hear
> it.
Perhaps some really weird plots and stories is what the genre needs,
though. Most fantasy-themed games are incredibly unoriginal. Granted, the
same is true for fantasy novels, but al least you'll sometimes find new
ideas (for example Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series).
M.
Knight37
> This level of "realism" never really interested me. It's not that
> difficult to implement on their end (Ultima 7 had it), and it
> doesn't add THAT much to the game. In fact it detracts from it a
> little. I remember in Morrowind they had quests which would
> require you to be at a certain place at a certain time.
I like all the scheduled NPCs and them having their own "lives", I think it
makes it a lot easier to suspend disbelief and the world becomes more
"real" because of it.
> Do you have any idea how annoying it is to just sit there waiting
> for an event? I prefer WoW's method of NPCs sitting there ready
> to hand you quests when you get there.
Just do something else during that time.
Knight37
Considering that I could 1. wait for the file to show up on a free site,
and download it for free, 2. spend my time searching for the file somewhere
else, and 3. have crappy download speeds and/or wait in a queue somewhere
(FP isn't the only site that has queues), all that I'm buying from FP is
the convience of having one stop shopping and rapid delivery as soon as the
demo is available. Not to mention all the other stuff you get with a FP
sub.
Badson
Well, all these FP threads made me take a look and I just subscribed.
I agree with Knight; the ability to go to one site and quickly find
what I need is worth the $40 per year. I downloaded the City of
Villians exclusive beta at around 800-900 k/sec which is head and
shoulders above any other site from which I have downloaded.
When I signed up I received a free year subscription to CGW and some
other magazine (FW..something? Had a nice looking woman in a bikini
on the cover). I received points to allow me to download a free game.
I set my account to be notified of any betas so I can quickly sign up
(I'm one of those people that signs up for betas to play rather than
report bugs). So far I tried Star Wars Battlefront II open beta and
downloaded the City of Villians client so I could be in the stress
test in a few days.
I haven't downloaded too many demos in the past year, but at the
speeds I'm getting with FP I certainly will.
It all comes down to what the service is worth to me. It is certainly
worth $40/yr in my case.
Mean_Chlorine
>On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 22:18:08 +0200, Mean_Chlorine wrote:
>
>> I suspect there's a story here, and I hope to God I never get to hear
>> it.
>
>Perhaps some really weird plots and stories is what the genre needs,
>though. Most fantasy-themed games are incredibly unoriginal.
Ohyes. I've long wanted rpg's which were not fantasy. I used to like
fantasy, but it's just sooo overdone now. It's not the track well
travelled, it's stuck in a rut.
I've suggested WWII (e.g. you're an inmate in Auschwitz and your
object is to survive & escape; or you're a scout during the desert
campaign; an infiltrator in nazi-occupied france etcetcetc), 'real'
medieval times (e.g. you're an assassin in Italy working for the
Borgias) etc more grounded-in-reality settings, but that usually just
leads to people experiencing a kind of mental meltdown ("what, you
want orcs in WW2?!").
Mark Morrison
>It all comes down to what the service is worth to me. It is certainly
>worth $40/yr in my case.
Welcome to the club !
Now brace for flames from the anti-FP brigade.
Michael Vondung
> Now brace for flames from the anti-FP brigade.
Hey, it's possible to disagree with something without being a "radical". :)
I've explaiend why FP is counter-productive, and why I wouldn't support it
with money ... but it's an entirely personal decision. Not trying to talk
you into cancelling your subscription.
M.
Mark Morrison
They'll have to prise my subscription from my cold, dead, fingers !!!
:)