Elder Scrolls V - Part 4

[Speedball]

Fixed t:

Spoiler

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Spidey has become the new Spock.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Spidey has become the new Spock.

No, i think Spidey-Bat still likes video games.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Spoiler

I crack up every time I see this, lol.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

No, i think Spidey-Bat still likes video games.

Touche

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

So...after a couple of months spent in the cold Nordic land, i'm starting to miss the capital wasteland...and the Mojave desert.

i freakin love Skyrim, but...everything and everybody is so serious. Hell, i miss character like Fisto!

'i'm programmed for pleasure!...assume the position! '

t:

 

[ProjectPat2280]

After two games of capital wasteland, I'm not asking for a return any time soon. Don't know what it is about that locale, but it tired on me much quicker than others. I deff prefer the 'middle earth' type locations.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

After two games of capital wasteland, I'm not asking for a return any time soon. Don't know what it is about that locale, but it tired on me much quicker than others. I deff prefer the 'middle earth' type locations.

It's the other way 'round with me. Generally, i'm not really a fan of the 'middle earth' type of games, so i really can't explain why i like Oblivion and Skyrim so much.

And it's just not the setting that i like about FO3 and NV,it's the characters and the storylines and the whole 50's pulp athmosphere. I've always had this weird fascination about the 1950's America, so those games were perfect for met:

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Oh yea, i love the atmosphere around the fallout titles and the first time i saw the wasteland i was blown away. I'll deff play the next fallout tho. No doubt.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

After two games of capital wasteland, I'm not asking for a return any time soon. Don't know what it is about that locale, but it tired on me much quicker than others. I deff prefer the 'middle earth' type locations.

My feeling with them is you've seen one, you've seen them all. It's one reason why I never have any desire to play a game in a post-apocalyptic/wasteland setting. I feel there's more variety with the Middle-Earth type fantasy settings. Zelda, Fable, even Skyrim and Oblivion all feel unique from one another.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

My feeling with them is you've seen one, you've seen them all. It's one reason why I never have any desire to play a game in a post-apocalyptic/wasteland setting. I feel there's more variety with the Middle-Earth type fantasy settings. Zelda, Fable, even Skyrim and Oblivion all feel unique from one another.

`

Except that FO3 and NV isn't just your run-off-the mill post apocalyptic game. What makes it unique is the fact that it's basically a vision of the future based on pulpy 1950's science fiction. Sci-fi from that era was VERY different than what we have today. And i feel that those games captured that perfectly....everything from the goofy ads, the dialoques,the kind of people/enemies you came across to the songs from the radio on your pipboy.

To me, all those things combined sets it apart from any other post apocalyptic games.

But hey, to each his own...and just for the record...i LOOOVE Oblivion and Skyrim too! but for me personally, i just love FO3 and NV more.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Except that FO3 and NV isn't just your run-off-the mill post apocalyptic game. What makes it unique is the fact that it's basically a vision of the future based on pulpy 1950's science fiction. Sci-fi from that era was VERY different than what we have today.

I've seen some of both, the 50's campiness doesn't make it any different to me.

 

[James]

I put more hours into FO3 than any other game I've played, but I grew tired of NV pretty quick. I'm more likely to revisit FO3 than NV any day of the week because NV's environment got old quick for me.

I love the series, but I think come Fallout 4 they're going to need to spice up the environments a bit more. Not that I don't love the Capital Wasteland, but some variety like Point Lookout etc would be great. I'm sure there's a ton of interesting locations/environments Bethesda can create.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

@ spidey-bat

I guess then the game just isn't your cup of tea...but the 50's campiness IS what made the game different than the usual post apocalyptic game...it gave the game different athmosphere..different feel if you will.I can't think of any other game where, for example, you're fighting a bunch of enemies while listening to 50's song.

@ James

Agreed. FO 3 is more enjoyable for me.The problem with NV, while it's true that it's much better written...it got boring pretty quick. Too much fetch quest and not enough fighting...and the wall of text from npc's. But they created some of the best characters and that's what keeps me coming back, because i enjoy them so much. And i'm playing on the PC, so there are ways to...liven thing up in the Mojave if you will.

It's like the old saying about a play or a movie... if you're going to bring a gun in the 2nd act, you better make sure somebody get shot in the 3rd act...or something to that effect

 

[Spidey17]

Gabe voices my opinion on Amalur (mind you he has played a much more complete build than I, my demo has been plagued with headless characters, silence-except-for-the-ambient-music, and rushed through conversations) perfectly in this link http://penny-arcade.com/2012/01/27... though there are some distinctions I'd like to make. On Gabe's scale of combat, where God of War and Bayonetta are 10, and Skyrim is negative 10, Amalur is a 6. For some odd reason he compares DMC and Darksiders, but I would argue that DMC 3 and 4 has at least 3 points over Darksiders. Also, he mentioned that finding a vampire cave in Skyrim is a chore because of the mediocre gameplay, does anyone else share his feeling?

Speaking of Darksiders, I prefer the look of that game by far over Amalur. Gabe never went into that point, but he did say that as an artist he enjoys Amalur very much, and didn't enjoy Skyrim's constant barrage of grey and brown (Is Gabe off base here? I haven't played Skyrim yet, but from what I've seen green and white play big rolest. To bring yet another game into my post, I prefer The Witcher 2's look over any other RPG overall, and it goes for a realistic look. Skyrim only went semi-realistic, which I think was a design choice, considering the size of the game. I don't vastly prefer Amalur to Skyrim when it comes to art style like Gabe, even though we're both probably right-brain dominiant. I can say that I honestly enjoy the freshness of Amalur.

If you've read this far on the Skyrim thread you should stop now, cuz I'll be focusing on the Amalur demo. Anyways, did anyone else panic that there was now choice for more mana or hp when leveling? I'm curious if both just go up automatically when you level up, which would be highly annoying for those who want to create a very specific character. If that is the case, I call bs. Amalur is just a bit too simplistic in some ways. I love the combat and stealth, but decisions like putting arrows on a cool-down timer is weak. If I'm going to roll as an archer, I'd like the opportunity to stock up on arrows, thank you very much. Which is funny, because I never really play as an archer, but I see their gameplay decision as frustrating anyways. Dimensional pockets for the arrows segues nicely into my next complaint: where in the heck is the shield when you're not blocking!?! Has there ever been a game where a shield and two-handed sword where equippable at the same time? It might be one of the smallest choices in a game, but players should have to strategize whether they want better defense, or better offense. My solution would be to allow for blocking/parrying with large weapons and dual-wielding, but about 1-5% of the attack would come through. And health regeneration would be nice, I bet that is a might/finesse perk. Last but not least, dying with no consequence is one of my biggest pet peeves. They couldn't even go the Rage route and give you 3 freebie revives before making you restart the mission, they just chose the Bioshock (original version, not PS3) route. Hell, they chose an easier route than that, you respawn EXACTLY WHERE YOU DIED, FREE OF CONSEQUENCE. At least take some XP away, like when your character goes to prison. I don't agree with how DS handles death, but I don't like this end of the spectrum either. I'll have to wait and see if there is a save system structure like Oblivion, or if there are constant autosaves like DS... I might be overreacting to their demo checkpoint solution. It would fit in with their other simplistic design choices

Enough with my whining, now onto what I loved about the demo. The fae blades and chakra (both I only got by completing the thresh mission) are both exquisite weapons. The FBs might have more speed, but the chakra remind me of the Blades of Chaos, they're range is superior to all of the other melee weapons, at least to my understanding. I'm usually more of a two-handed weapon/medium weapon+shield kind of guy in other RPGs, but Amalur has won me over to the small, dual-wielding weapon side of the force. Certain enemies might make me open a can of whoop ass with a hammer or great swords, but those just aren't as fun to use as daggers and discuses(discusi?). Sadly there is no lock on button, otherwise the magic would be much more fun. It's still enjoyable, but I preferred the first spell to the 2 unlockable ones. I bet there are 10+ spells that I'll have to juggle through my multiple playthroughs, so it's all good. Since I've already spent a paragraph or three talking about vido game art I won't say much more here, I'll just add that I do enjoy the look of Amalur, more so with the characters designs than the environments, which is definitely the reverse of Skyrim.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Skyrim has a lot of earth tones, so it's pretty accurate. But I thought there was enough variety with each region. You have a valley, mountain range, forest, marsh, plains, 2 port cities (Riften and Windhelm) and 2 minor ones that are both in snowy mountain ranges.

I would give neither Skyrim a -10 nor God of War a 10 in combat. The former is pretty dull but I live with it. God of War is pretty button-mashy.

 

[Soapy]

I was actually very surprised and pleased with the variety of environments in Skyrim.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Yea i loved how different every town felt. Its why it was so tough for me to choose a place to live at.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I was a little disappointed that Winterhold wasn't a huge, bustling city, as it was described to be in other games and books and such. But other than that, I was pretty happy with the cities.

I got pretty sick of those underground textures, though. I wish there were more icy caves. Those environments were gorgeous compared to the blandness of the dungeons. Oh, and Draugr. If I never see another Draugr again, it'll be too soon. They don't even have the decency to leave them relatively weak so I can pick them off easily. Now I'm just getting solely Deathlords and Scourges.

 

[Fading]

Both "Middle Earth", and the Wastelands have their charms. It really boils down to the mood I'm in, and how long it's been since I last played it. If forced to pick though, 9 outta 10 times I'll choose the medieval setting. As much as I enjoy the tongue in cheek 50's atmosphere of the Wastelands, I have a toaster, junk food, and see guns all the time on TV. Whereas medieval stuff is more foreign, and makes it easier to be drawn in and absorbed into these types of second life type games.

I like both though, I just think I tend to gravitate towards more primative settings than futuristic ones (swords and orcs vs lasers and mutants that is since Fallout was primative in a sense). Course now I have a date with a modern zombie apocalypse setting, just got Dead Island.

 

[Paladin-Hoss]

Both "Middle Earth", and the Wastelands have their charms. It really boils down to the mood I'm in, and how long it's been since I last played it. If forced to pick though, 9 outta 10 times I'll choose the medieval setting. As much as I enjoy the tongue in cheek 50's atmosphere of the Wastelands, I have a toaster, junk food, and see guns all the time on TV. Whereas medieval stuff is more foreign, and makes it easier to be drawn in and absorbed into these types of second life type games.

I like both though, I just think I tend to gravitate towards more primative settings than futuristic ones (swords and orcs vs lasers and mutants that is since Fallout was primative in a sense). Course now I have a date with a modern zombie apocalypse setting, just got Dead Island.

It all comes down to personal taste, i guess. I love the 50's so i preffer FO3 and NV...and i'm not tying to say that those two games are better than Skyrim either,Just FYI. It's just that i preffer those two games more.

...And maybe because it's still early in the morning over here, but...i really don't understand what that Spidey17 was trying to say

And to those who plays on the PC...the creation kit will be released next week it seems! yaaay!

And speaking of PC...found this cool li'l mod on some blog:
http://bagserk.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html

The result...check out Lydia..errr...my wife!

 

[James]

I don't know that I'd ever pick one over the other, The Wasteland and Skyrim are just too different -they're their own animal, both aiming for entirely different things. The closest I could get comparing the two is "which would I rather spend my time in?" but even then it's not a simple answer because, as FadingCB mentioned, it depends entirely on what I'm looking for at the time.

LOTR style swords and magic adventure is a long way off from post apocalyptic sci fi, the only similarities lean toward game play rather than setting, feel or atmosphere. I suppose if it was a question of picking a favorite genre I'd go with Fallout's, but choosing between games is a different kettle of fish in my eyes.

My two cents

 

[Master Chief]

Post-apocalypse survival > Sword and shield epic. ALWAYS.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Master Chief, you seem to have accidentally typed a '>' instead of a '<'. Just letting you know, kthanxbai

 

[Master Chief]

If Skyrim gets a pip-boy DLC I'll own up to that mistake.