toblix

So my PC has an ATI graphics card, which I last had about ten years ago. Everyone knows hardware manufacturers suck the most at making GUI, but I'm still amazed at how ass everything from ATI looks. From the installer splash screen, which has the Windows 95 era 16bit dithered look, to the control panel, which looks like something bundled with Oracle 5 Management Tools. I mean look at this: Other than the Windows 7 borders, how woul you know this wasn't released in 1998? Two indicators: ATI's URL wasn't ati.amd.com then. THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE FREE TRIAL™ had not yet been released so that ATI could bundle them with my fucking graphics card drivers.

I thought the DS acronym (if it even is one) was intended to be open to interpretation.

Yes.

Okay, update. My NAS running FreeNAS is now up and running, and it's working perfectly. A bit more nerding around to set up shares, etc., but it performs tons better. Also, the UI (based on m0n0wall) is a million times better than the horrible mess BlackArmor used. Also, I've replaced my horrible crappy D-Link router with a small box running pfSense. This also has a much better UI, gives tons more stats, performs better and doesn't reset willy-nilly. So, if you're looking to get an end-all solution to either your network storage or internet connection needs, look no further than this thread.

I would probably start out implementing a robust physics engine and a living, breathing sandbox city for the game's main protagonist to ride his space scooter around in. Then I would let some friends play with it and work with the feedback.

I would probably be among the very first zombies.

I don't think so. If you want to make a hubbub sound in a game, you don't just play lots of voices at the same time. It doesn't sound like real hubbub, only like badly mixed sound. With the level of polish apparent in the rest of the game, I doubt they'd do this. Also, there's plenty of good ambient background conversation chatter sound as well. It's just that the "special" ones -- the ones that you're supposed to be able to hear (like the lady in the kitchen talking to the guy outside) aren't audible enough for me. I guess that's a local issue though.

Yeah, she was , but still...

Just saw Nick Breckon tweeting how the crowd scenes were awesome. I guess I should look into my sound card settings or something. Also, just thought of one moment in the first hub where you hear this roar of laughter from a group in the next room. There's no way of entering, or seeing what's going on, and it felt incredibly realistic. I can't remember ever hearing that kind of sound in a game before, probably because you don't see many game characters laughing naturally like that.

Okay, BSG has been awesome so far, but is dumb stuff like going to be par for the course in the episodes to come? It really comes off as a more serious and realistic (for sci-fi, anyway) show, but that really stuck out as a crazy, unfitting way for her to get back to the ship.

Yeah, but I thought multiplayer as a "requirement" has more to do with when the game is released rather than how many prequels it has.

This strikes me as the perfect multiplayer game. Anyone know why it doesn't have it?

That's fantastic, then. I was afraid they'd done the thing where they shock and awe you with awesomeness right at the start, and then have a markable degradation in quality as you progress. I guess maybe it's an issue with my computer (or ears), but I wasn't able to pick up much of the chatter, as so much of it was playing at the same time. It reminded me of the birthday party in FO3. Also, I guess I used the term exposition incorrectly. Also, so far the music has been terrific. The guitar music in the menu and the jazz playing on the record player in the other room as you wake up.

On the train station in Amsterdam I saw people eating food out of greasy metal compartments in the wall.

Did they get kids at all? I seem to remember all the children sounded like 30-year old voice actresses.

Holy crap is this a good-looking game! Even from the menu it was like walking around in some very good CGI. The frame rate got a little too low for me, especially during the short outside section, so I chose to lower the resolution rather than the visual quality. It looks like they've used every visual effect they could think of. I'm starting to get a little tired of these content-heavy intro sequences where you walk around watching hundreds of little animations and hearing everyone trying to set the mood at once. I didn't catch any of it. It seems most games that do this would benefit from spreading the exposition a little more throughout the game. Also, the ammo trading system seems pretty hard-core. I didn't dare trade in any of it before heading out -- hopefully that won't come back and bite me.

Just double clicked Metro 2033 in Steam games list, and Steam froze. It seems this will be a very bumpy ride. edit: Never mind, there we go.

I think it's very cool, although I'm sad that I will have the entire thing spoiled a million times before I'm able to play the sequence for myself.

I thought veteran were like doctors, only for the animals.

I'm probably doing it wrong, however, with such a streamlined game as this, I can't really see how. Yeah, I continued playing my straight up bad mother fucker, who's a mean asshole to everyone except the Australian chick. Oh, I guess they diverge more further in the game, then. So far it's been both or nothing. I've pretty much gathered my entire crew. So far, the only thing I can remember being interesting is: The sunlight eating up my shields thing The australian chick When I came to planet where you recruit the Justicar, for a moment I thought I would get to solve a murder mystery, just like in the best missions from old RPG games, where you get a break from the action and just talk to everyone. Of course, it ended up being just another firefight. Luckily there were lots of crates for me to take cover behind, and the enemy stuck to their usual tactics and didn't try anything fresh, so taking care of them was easy if a little boring. Come on, now. There's not much unique about Mass Effect 2. The setting is interesting, and there's a metric ton of sweet assets and polish, but it has all been done before. Except the mining parts, which nobody did before because it's stupid and boring. It's astounding that they managed to find something even less worthwile than the procedurally generated Mako missions. I don't even know what class I'm playing. I remember being an infiltrator in the first game, but when I read the class descriptions in this one they didn't really seem much different. I chose a weapons guy, I think. My dude has lots of guns, anyway.I think the reason you love this game and I don't is that you seem to love the combat. I really don't, and the fact that it has become clear to me that every single mission in the entire game will be a combat one sort of tints my experience.

Oh, but that's what I'm currently using. I guess it hasn't been implemented everywhere yet, but I do have the choice of having to confirm each payment with a generated pin and a password.

What would you propose instead? I mean, it's not a perfect system, but it's not completely crazy as it is.

Hopefully they'll release a DLC that puts in a bridge from Liberty City to New Austin.

Not to make this thread about me, but I've made a conscious effort not to just whine about all the games that suck: http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=121966&highlight=finished#post121966 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=117960&highlight=finished#post117960 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=108827&highlight=finished#post108827 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=106238&highlight=finished#post106238 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=95551&highlight=finished#post95551 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showpost.php?p=94914&postcount=54 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=94664&highlight=finished#post94664 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=92922&highlight=finished#post92922 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=91532&highlight=finished#post91532 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=88568&highlight=finished#post88568 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=87142&highlight=finished#post87142 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=123655&highlight=finished#post123655 http://idlethumbs.net/forums/showthread.php?p=129594&highlight=finished#post129594

Really, you think the dialogue trees in Mass Effect 2 is good? Maybe I've been missing all the awesome ones, but for me it's mostly: - Hello and welcome to my store - Give me a discount or else! - Okay, okay, here's a discount Oh, and just like in the first game, whenever there's a renegade choice, there's a paragon one, which means playing through the game again in the different style will be exactly the same.