Nappi

Does it follow the cursor and make navigating the skill trees even more difficult?

I somehow got the impression that this would be the much speculated Steve Zissou game. It is entirely possible be that they are completely separate projects, though.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

Sorry, I meant model examples in the other category. Although, I guess those are a bit easier to come up with. I think Half-Life 2 was confusing me the most, seeing that is quite linear and scripted (as mentioned many times already). And now Zelda. And you obviously shouldn't feel obliged to play a game (or read a book, or watch a movie) you are not interested in just because someone thinks you should. I hate that kind of shit. It may or may not be worth your time in the end, but that's besides the point.

I don't know what the people you have been talking to were after with their division so I'm not sure what the actual difference is. HL2 is definitely scripted, mostly linear and not full of emergent moments. One of the things that sets it apart from Uncharted, for example, as I seem to be unable to use any other examples, is that you have to piece in the story yourself a bit more. This does not mean that you have to go through a bunch of journals and audiologs, you just have to listen to discussions every now and then without wondering off and fill in the blanks. As I recall, HL2 made sure that you witness or at least hear about every major event in the (completely forgettable) plot. And yeah, the extend of scripting and pacing is one of the major differences between Uncharted and Half-Life, although, in my opinion, it is just a reason why I might prefer one over the another, and not a good class division criteria. Could you name some games that you (or they) think are in the other category so that we could see the differences more clearly?

I'm not sure if I got what you mean by "unscripted" so I'm just going to post my random thoughts about Uncharted 3 and Skyrim. I sank approximately 6 hours on Drake's Deception and played 56 hours of Skyrim. I'm sick and tired of the former and still enjoying and generally not done with the latter. I can only guess at the reasons. Part of the problem with Uncharted 3 is my frustration with the controls and the fight scenes. However, much bigger issue for me is that because you – or more to the point, the character you control – is experiencing something crazy, awesome and badass all the time, everything is suddenly very dull. It's a bit like eating half a kilo of strawberries in one sitting, and then wondering whether you should have sampled the cake below the berries as well. For instance, I was overjoyed when in Mafia II I was tasked to get rid of a body and nothing unexpected happened. I was actually afraid that the police would pull me over or something and drove extra carefully because of that. In Uncharted, on the other hand, if it appears that I have to backtrack even one corridor I have cleared before, I can be sure that the entire house will explode about a quarter of the way in. And when it does, I feel nothing at all. Apart from the lack of "down" moments (which seem to more numerous in Uncharted 3 than in the previous installments), I occasionally find it hard to be amazed by amazing things when they are very heavily scripted. I don't know why exactly, perhaps partly because I know that my experience is not unique and that I'm completely powerless in front of that invisible barrier. In my opinion, Bethesda's approach to first person narrative with Skyrim (and probably all their other games is well) is gold. The player character can be as confused with the world he has become a part of as the player him-/herself. It's the old Monkey Island/Hitman argument with wannabe-pirate replaced with unknown prisoner and master assassin replaced with know-it-all treasure hunter. To me it is a lot easier to be interested in the story and the world when I'm experiencing it in a vessel that I can relate to or, even better, mold. Let's face it, nothing in Skyrim is as kick-ass as an average set-piece in Uncharted. However, when a dragon suddenly attacked a peaceful village and everyone began to clumsily shoot arrows at it, I actually felt a bit sad because I suspected that this was somehow my fault. In Uncharted 2, I immediately knew that that peaceful Tibetan (?) village was doomed when I saw all those walls whose sole purpose of existence was clearly just to provide cover for the epic gunfight that was to follow. Only thing I felt was mild anger at the developers for such a cheap trick. I'm not completely happy with this post and feel that I have been a bit one-sided. I have nothing against Uncharted and Skyrim definitely has its faults. I play both unscripted and scripted games and have found lovely games in both categories. Anyway, play Deus Ex: Human Revolution if you already haven't. It offers plenty of options to tackle different situations, isn't too overwhelming and has a strongish story. You probably shouldn't take it as an example of an "unscripted" game, though.

Woo! This is heart-warming and amazing! About crowd sourced investment. As already mentioned, the legal work required to make that sort of thing work would probably be so staggering that most companies simply wouldn't dare to try such a thing. I don't know much about legal issues, though, except that everything you do could potentially turn into one, especially if it involves money.

That is how Jake "Rodking" Rodkin earned his name.

Now it seems that time might be a bigger issue than money. I don't know how long it usually takes to finish a game of this scope (what scope?), but October 2012 seems quite soon. And now that reaching at least, what, 4 times the original goal seems entirely plausible, I hope the scope and the schedule of the game will be rethought. At least there is this:

I guess some percentage will also cancel their funding before the deadline. In any case, holy shit they are scooping money fast!

Those bastards.

I have read quite a lot of scientific papers lately and I have come to appreciate that certain exactness in they have. When you have to sum up your year's research in 4 pages, you have to be very brief and to the point. I have also witnessed the revising process and it is amazing to see how much shorter the text can be made without losing any relevant content. I wouldn't necessarily advice you to start reading scientific papers to "improve" your writing, though. That kind of style has its place but it is not for every situation or nor for everyone. Nevertheless, I have found it to be quite an interesting counterbalance to prose. I have also been more satisfied with my writing* now that I have taken some cues from those texts. * In my studies; not here.

Stupid gender-specific pronouns.

WHHAAAAT??

This is a deeply upsetting thread. Sorry to hear you and the rest of your family have had to endure all that, Yufster. Sounds like you have coped with it admirably, though!

Which one?

Don't panic. I'm him: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7617704-tomi

This game had potential to be horribly inappropriate.

You should contact KNappi on Steam for a free copy of The Longest Journey + Dreamfall. Ask him about the weather in Ulan Bator. Also, 50% off HackerEvolution, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 or Monday Night Combat.

To be fair, while some of the complaints are completely valid, some others seem to originate from not realizing the difference in scope and freedom between Bethesda games and, say, Uncharted. I have only played two Bethesda RPGs, Skyrim and Fallout 3, and haven't encountered any game breaking or even silly bugs so far*. I know they are there somewhere – hell, the PS3 version of Skyrim is supposedly almost unplayable – but they are either very rare or Bethesda has been able to fix them before I have had chance to try either of the games. According to Youtube, Red Dead Redemption too was glitchy as fuck some point but I didn't encounter man-cougar or any of his pals on my playthrough. * My expectations of the bugginess of Skyrim were based on the horror stories rather than my own experiences with their previous games.

I'm surprised that I haven't run into any major bugs, yet. Or in fact any bugs at all. I wasn't expecting the game to hold together this well, to be honest. I should really find a way to keep my inventory smaller. My armor and weapons are the only heavy items I have, but I bet the shitload of potions I never use eats a huge junk of my carry capacity. Also, getting drunk seems to be the best way to travel from one end of the map to another.

Thanks guys! I installed SkyUI, Enhanced Distant Terrain and No More Blocky Faces. I'll probably try some of the other ones later. The awfulness original UI still boggles the mind. SkyUI is a huge improvement, but even with it installed, the inventory system just doesn't compare to other games. Apart from that, I'm enjoying this game surprisingly enormously. I can see why so many people and sites picked this as their GOTY. The sense of place (?) is second to none in my opinion.

Yey! Thanks! I'll test it next week. Any other must-have improvements I should know about?

I can already see this game feasting on all the free time it can take. However, 30% of that time is spent on the pretty but stupid menu system. Any way to make the inventory, you know, not completely broken?

The season finale of Sherlock was good. I wouldn't want all the episodes to be as bleak and serious as this, but it was OK. The final standoff was very well executed, and the conclusion ( ) excellent. I really hope so. It was somewhat interesting, but they should not milk it. Plus, would be pretty lazy and take a lot of explaining. I completely agree. This kind of stuff has started to bother me more and more lately. It is sad that I was so incredibly surprised by the way Rory was treated in Doctor Who. Moffat (or whoever) could have extended some of his goodwill to Molly, as well. The landlady was a lovely character and glad she was treated more or less with respect, throughout. At least, as far as I can remember and as far as respect is something that can be associated with this dysfunctional Sherlock.