Erkki

I've loved it since the first trailer was released. Watched it 10 times probably. But I was disappointed when they revealed part of the storyline -- it seemed rather generic, starting with a kidnapped sister or somesuch.

While I agree with Halgwet's and elmuerte's critisism, I really enjoyed the game -- just finished it after playing for two whole days. Somehow I managed to not let the annoying parts get in the way too much. Never bothered to collect the flags or the other optional stuff that didn't show up on the map, except in the assassin city: The game is not up to standards in many aspects though, so there was definitely more potential there. Thief and Hitman have done a lot of things better, and many years ago by now. But on the other hand it seems somewhat understandable that while they had their hands full creating those awesome cities and making the environment work so well with free-running, they neglected other stuff. Things which were most noticeably lame: * after running really-really far from those that chase you, whether you get away or not is determined by whether you jump into a haystack or not. * haystacks are the new crates? * insta-death water * the scenes outside the animus, where you had to walk around really slow compared to Altair's movement * the story could have been better PS. the cities reminded me of running and climbing around in the desert city in Outcast, which is cool. PPS. i think once game devs in general get a better hang of this parkour/free-running thing, we'll see some really awesome games. Totems and Mirror's Edge already look quite promising, except the stories.

I finally gave up waiting if it will be available on Steam and bought it from a store. Have played it for 4-5 hours and so far it's pretty much what I expected -- quite fun to play actually, although everything is a bit repetitive and somewhat shallow. The high/low profile thing doesn't work that well -- sometimes you may stand near a soldier and "blend", and the moment you let go of the blend button, he will react. They should have taken a few cues from the Hitman games concerning how the alertness of guards and stuff like that is implemented. The current system comes across as a few generations behind the times.

I feel like clicking on some wow gold. http://www.google.com/search?q="wow+gold"+site%3Aidlethumbs.net

Yeah, in Witcher you usually drink 1-2 potions if faced with tougher enemies and more often BEFORE combat. Some potions last longer as well, so you need to think ahead.

I didn't mean exactly as Witcher -- while Witcher made things more interesting (for me at least) mostly by making alchemy almost obligatory, Diablo III could do the same with skills etc. [edit] also, I wouldn't go as far to say that potions aren't part of the gameplay.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=167096&page=2 Seems like the health orbs might change the combat system in a mayor way, making some specific skills more important than health potions. I hope it will feel something like The Witcher, where you couldn't simply replenish health all the time due to toxicity of the potions so you had to use more specific potions depending on the situation to maximise their effects.

I wonder if there will be wow gold in Diablo III

I didn't like Diablo II as much as the first one -- at some point it got boring for me and I don't even remember if I finished it. But Diablo III jumped straight to the top of my most anticipated games list. I'm not much of a multi-player gamer, though, so I'm just hoping for an awesome single-player experience.

Heh... you made me realize for the first time that Netherlands is actually smaller than Estonia (your population is 10 times ours though).

It's going to be on Estonian TV starting from tomorrow, if you all say it's that good, I'll definitely watch it.

Happy Birthday, Dan!

Yay! I finally got 100% in Cherub Rock (Medium), although I was quite certain that I missed one note during the outro (and remember seeing the "50 note sequence" message after that). I almost feel like I cheated. IMHO, Cherub Rock is the best track in the game (most fun to play + I like the Pumpkins), along with "My Name is Jonas". I have completed a few songs on Hard, but it's quite hard indeed. Every song needs half an hour or more practice at least. How difficult are Hard & Expert for you?

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday!

Thought I'd make a new thread as it's perhaps a bit off topic... Even though GTA IV game has been awesome so far, I think I actually prefer San Andreas. Nothing in IV is going to be like driving around and causing mischief in the countryside, while listening to the country music station. And not only the countryside, but the cities in San Andreas had a more interesting layout than Liberty City (I've yet to unlock the third area though), although the architecture wasn't as well realized. And to be honest, I don't really see all the depth in Niko that people talk about. Some of it, sure, and he may be a little more memorable and in some way more likeable than CJ, but he accepts all kinds of immoral jobs quite coldly and even eagerly. He never tries to do anything to get out of it. It is possible that my memory of the San Andreas story is fading, but as I remember it, while Carl Johnson was a cold-blooded gangbanger, he was often pulled into deep shit by others and just couldn't see a way out. And he still had some moral integrity -- Niko hasn't really displayed any so far, even if he sometimes questions some of the people he works for. He sees himself as a killer and doesn't even think about trying another path, although he has arrived in the land of opportunity. But perhaps I'm judging the story too early, so take that last paragraph with a grain of salt. [update] yeah, i was judging it too early. Now having finished with the main story, I have changed my mind a little.

You're right. I just played some SA and it seems really primitive. Also, it doesn't help that there's an issue with AMD Dual Core processors and although it could be fixed partially, I still have some weird things, like farther away cars moving faster than normal etc.

Yeah, I don't stand by that paragraph exactly any more, but I still partially think that. I wasn't able to find the right words to say exactly how, so I left that part out of the edit. I guess I'll post more thoughts later after letting it soak in for a bit and maybe watching some cutscenes again (if they can be found online or something).

Heh, I've played for over 40 hours, the stats say my favourite radio is Liberty Rock, but I'm still hearing new songs on that station. The total amount of music in the game must be insane.

I finished the main story yesterday, now I'm just trying out some of the optional stuff that I mostly skipped on earlier, like keeping friends happy. Although, I guess there is even less incentive to do it now, since the bonuses won't be as useful. Also, I think I'll play some more San Andreas again soon, for comparison. If I'd have to give a score, I'd give it something between 9 and 9.5. It's a brilliant game, and almost everything was upgraded to "next gen" and a lot of detail was added; things that were more separate earlier were more integrated this time, with the cell phone playing a big part in that. However, I feel that the meat of the game, the missions, didn't really see improvement and perhaps were even a step backwards. Yes, the combat gameplay is a lot better with the help of the cover system and better aiming, but the way the missions were set up and structured seemed exactly like earlier games and, I think, had even less variety than Vice City and San Andreas. There were occasional exceptions to this -- for example -- but for the first time in a GTA game I really felt like I was mostly driving from A to B and getting into a firefight at site B. This complaint has been brought up against the series earlier, but I never really felt it until now. Of course, it could be just me -- maybe I'm just getting tired of this formula, having played and enjoyed all of the GTA games so far. On the other hand, all the added depth and detail in this game, which is unprecedented for a sandbox game, got me thinking if it isn't time for the appearance of sandbox games with completely different themes. Frankly, I don't think shooting is the most interesting thing to be done in this type of game. I would love to see a GTA-like game that focused on something else entirely and didn't have any weapons at all.

I kind of agree with some of it, but my main complaint about the game is the missions. I'll post it in the GTA thread.

Actually for me that part was easier, but I could have just gotten lucky, or maybe the game turned down the difficulty because I had failed so much (it sometimes does that).

Aargh. I'm on the last mission (I think) and it's a real piece of shit.

Oh yeah, I forgot the missions/jobs. Some of them are similar to the delivery/taxi/police/etc. missions in earlier games, but less random and more scripted I guess.

1. too much work for me 2. you get some bonuses, not sure what they are exactly, as I've only gone far enough with Roman, who gave me access to his car service (but I haven't used it) 3. it seems that not much, you just get complaining calls or messages from friends you've been ignoring It's not like having to eat because it's not mandatory, but comes close. You can take your friends anywhere you want (eat,pool,bowling,comedy show etc.), so it's not even like generated guests, but there are dialogues that add a little depth to the game world and characters.