I forget if this has been posted:

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This game looks so good. They're concentrating on making a true first-person game, none of the display bullshit. Looks like it also has a very unique aesthetic.

i hope the game design/controls at large are consistent...

because 30 seconds of it look really nice.

also: i could see it be dizzying... read this on wiki:
"In order to address the issue of simulation sickness that is concomitant with the freer movement of the camera in first-person view, a small reticle was placed in the centre of the screen, though this is not apparent from the first video released because it was removed from the in-game footage shown. The reticle serves as an aiming point and as a focal point to prevent the player from experiencing dizziness, working in a similar fashion to the dance technique called spotting. Other than this reticle, no HUD exists in the game."

Really enjoying Age Of Conan now that I stepped out into the game world properly. Playing a Tempest of Set pursuing the Thunder skill tree on the Tyranny PVP Server. It's incredibly dangerous in the wilderness. I got a mate and we watch each other's back when traveling, least we get murdered by brigands or mobs of crocodiles. Everyone is Guild-ing up. I might join up with this new guild some dudes are starting.

The mid-levels are the most perilous.

would you recommend the game to somebody who has to choose between AoC and music/alcohol?

If you are over 23 years old, get the game. It's fun and alcohol has lost it's thrill by then.

If under 23, go with the alcohol and sex.

lol why would you suspect sex was involved? i post on a fucking message board in my free time and i'm only 17

Sex is inevitable when alcohol is involved. If not, you need more liquor.

im practically celibate


edit: EXCEPT FOR MY HAND

You need more liquor.

I've been craving for an MMO to play of late and AoC seems to be fitting the bill nicely. I think I'll pick this up next time I'm in town.

One day when I'm rich, retired, and have no life whatsoever I would love to play an MMO with Damo.

Look me up on the Age Of Conan Tyranny server. I might be joining up with the Peenorange griefer guild. So you could check there too.

Maybe in a couple years I'll play an MMO, it's just right now I feel like there's too many other things to play, or movies to watch, or things to read etc

You don't have to dedicate your whole life to it. I only play MMOs until I get bored.

Just like any other videogame.

When a video game doesn't have an ending to it's narrative or design, I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything when I play it, and feel sort of guilty. I have picked up MMOs only to play them for 2 weeks before getting unbelievably bored with them.

The only exception I can think of is street fighter/various fighting games

There is a definite ending to Age OF Conan SP portion. You can choose to play either through the story in single player mode or jump into the larger world as an MMO at anytime. The story ends, but you can go off an explore, build towns, join guilds, et cetera if you want.

Think of it as playing SP Oblivion, only after you repel the evil god and re-light the Dragonfires you have the option of traveling away from Cyrodil and visiting Highrock or Morrowind.

For me, that is the appeal of Age Of Conan; the balance of hardcore SP RPG and grand world exploration.

edit: and the SP section is long. 20 levels, I think.

For an MMO you just need to pick a certain point as your "completion". I used to be a degenerate WoW player but I decided that after I killed a certain boss I would stop playing. My guild beat the instance after a bunch of tries and I finally felt satisfied with the progress, even though Blizzard had released two new dungeons by the time. And so my WoW habit was defeated. It might be the only way to stop playing an MMO once you get really into it.

My brother had quite the haul when he went second-hand shopping the other day. Gave them all a whirl last night, unfortunately, his favourite find, a copy of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, doesn't seem to work.


Kick Master: This was actually pretty fun. You're a ninja who walks around kicking shit. I like the fact that your character can jump so high and far that it's possible to jump in the air over an enemy, turn around in mid-air, and kick something behind, while angling yourself out of its way. I also like the cinema screen where a guy with a sword claims he can't kill a skeleton, so you're gonna have to kick it, because if a sword doesn't work, obviously your feet will.


Friday the Thirteenth: I got stuck inside a house and couldn't find my way out and got really angry really quickly and shut it off.


Battletoads: Goddamnit, this was even harder than I'd remembered. Fifteen minutes of this, with the resulting 10-15 deaths was more than enough for me.

Any impressions? I just picked it up over the lunch hour. I loved Ninja Gaiden Black for XBOX, and I'm really excited about this. Can't wait to get home and start slashing fucking heads and limbs. The reported frustrations with the camera are discouraging, but looking forward to grinding my way through this sadistic game.

so you guys got kael? thats a pretty good place to stop imho. i personally just quit raiding, we are 4/6 MH, and 0 in BT

I just bought AoC. Excited. This will be my first MMORPG for years so hopefully it won't disappoint.

Nah, 'fraid not. Only played about 30 minutes of it, and I barely played the first Xbox title, so I can't really speak with certainty about it. The camera definitely has issues, but otherwise it seems like pretty standard fare and a solid extension of what I remember from the previous game.

Wow, this game is huge. Took an age to install and for the last hour or so it has been patching up.

I'm about the same on it. I like it and all, but so far (45 minutes in) it isn't a huge leap from its predecessor. And the camera as mediocre at best. It was better in Ninja Gaiden Black, for chrissakes. I would assume there is a download coming to fix it; that's what they did previously.

lol I just played AoC 'till 2:45 am. Ridiculously fun. I picked the Sygian race and Herald of Xotli class.

Question to Damo = How much do you use the Ctrl defense system? Is it something you have to master because it seems a really tricky think to get used to.

heh no we finished molten core. this was a couple years ago

ahhh
then actually you are missing out a little. molten core was so crappy compared to the stuff they have made since. they have learned alot about how to make raiding fun and interesting since then. it still gets boring eventually though.

this looks dizzying

I'm sure this will out me as the gaming geek I am (as if my OOTP posts in the baseball thread didn't already do that), but I am not exaggerating when I say that the announcement of Civ IV: Colonization is probably the most exciting gaming news I've heard in at least a decade. I played the crap out of the original, so much so that I still have a modded Windows version on my computer that I drag out for old times' sake every once in a while. I CANNOT FUCKING WAIT for this to come out. As great as Civ IV is and as great as Colonization was, this is a no-brainer, game of the year candidate for me.




http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=52828

In Colonization, players lead one of four European nations on a quest to conquer and rule the New World. Players will be challenged to guide their people from the oppressive motherland, discover the New World, and negotiate, trade and fight with both the natives and other nations as they acquire power and fight for freedom and independence.

As a complete reimagining of the 1994 classic, Colonization is a total conversion of Civilization IV that combines Civilization’s addictive “just one more turn” gameplay with all-new graphics and features that add more depth to the franchise. New features, such as a brand-new interface, improved diplomacy options and the included modding tools ensure that Colonization will be the next great title from gaming’s premier strategy game developer.

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization is a game experience in which players will lead a European nation on their quest to conquer and rule the New World. Players will be challenged to guide their people from the oppressive motherland, discover a New World, negotiate, trade and fight with both the natives and other nations as they acquire great power and fight for their freedom and independence.

“We’ve received many requests from fans over the years to bring back Colonization and now seemed to be the perfect time to do that,” said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games. “The Civilization IV engine provided a fantastic foundation for a new Colonization experience and allowed us to create something great for both new players and long time fans of the game.”

Features:

Classic Game Design Rebuilt for the Modern Era: Usher forth a new generation of Sid Meier’s Colonization with gameplay built on the award winning Civilization IV engine, providing the beautiful visuals, famously addictive gameplay and endless fun that are synonymous with Sid Meier strategy games.

Fight the Homeland and Establish a New Nation: Play as the English, Spanish, French or the Dutch and journey to a brave new world in search of freedom from your oppressive homeland

Improved Diplomacy: Sustain peace and support your followers as you engage in advanced negotiations with natives, other colonists and the hostile homeland -- Trade resources, gold and land as you build the foundation for a self sufficient and powerful colony

Historical Figures Provide Adaptive Gameplay: Acquire founding fathers such as John Smith, Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams who will help guide your nation to freedom based on your gameplay style

Brand New Interface: Both Civilization IV fans and players new to the series will feel right at home with an interface that Firaxis has built to be accessible and easy to navigate.

Multiplayer Offers Endless Replay Value: Compete with friends from all over the world via the Internet and Play by Email modes or compete locally via the Hotseat and LAN modes, offering endless ways to conquer the New World.

Detailed Tutorial Guides Players In Their Conquest: Civilization IV: Colonization will provide an enhanced tutorial that will help both fans of the game and brand new players on their way to ruling the New World.

Mods and Community Tools: Players will have limitless options for modifying the game to suit their needs. Firaxis will ship the game with modding tools including a map editor using XML and Python.

Conceived from the ground up to take advantage of the Civilization IV engine, Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization is a standalone product for PC and will be available fall 2008.

Wow. Count me in as psyched for Colonization. I think I'll be firing up Civ IV tonight.

How do you guys feel about Civ IV? I think Civ II was the one I was most heavily into but this game is good as well. I'm just not very good at it.

Civ IV is one of the best games I've ever played. The beauty of it is that I stink at it as well, yet I am hopelessly addicted to it. I've played the hell out of it for the past couple of weekends. It still has a ton of replay value. I just play on lower difficulty settings since I suck so bad. That's a testament to how great the game is - that I can recognize I'm not very good at it, yet not be frustrated by it and still want to continue playing. Very few games have ever been able to pull that off.

Have you played the warlords expansion? I have it but havent tried it yet because of a disheartening loss in my last bid at world dominance.

I almost always try to win by conquering as much as possible. I don't want to settle for that peace bullshit.

I've got both Warlords and the Beyond the Sword expansions. And yeah, war is where it's at. My 8-year old daughter actually enjoys watching me play, so I try to teach her about history and stuff while the game progresses. But it's always, "So when are we going to fight someone?" And then a disapproving look from my wife, of course!

I'm buying mgs4 at midnight tomorrow.
kojima will be here in the city saturday, gonna go get the game signed.

yes!

I totally posted in the wrong thread , disregard .

I was disappointed in Civ 4's multiplayer. Too much emphasis on war. Not a good thing considering the war mechanic of the Civ series is so lacking. If one is playing say Spain or Russia, the advantage of early game city sacking is too great to allow for any other strategy. This discounts Civs that build toward the future, influence or space.

Still, I play an occasional SP game of Civ 4 once in a while. Though games such Galactic Civilizations and Sword Of the Stars to tend to be more satisfying and a deeper play experience for me overall.

I don't do multiplayer in Civ, or any game for that matter, so I can't comment. In SP, I've had success going for the culture war/diplomacy win, although I'll admit it isn't quite as exciting as building up a good army and kicking my neighbor's ass.

Yeah, but SP wears itself thin when you are essentially playing a spreadsheet. Human players offer a challenge greater than AI ever could.

All victory options should be possible for all factions.

Eh, I do not care for human interaction in gaming, at all. The whole point of gaming for me is for a personal challenge, on my own schedule, for my own personal enjoyment. With a wife and 2 kids, it is that rare time I get to have some fun without being bothered (although my daughter insists on watching me play Civ). I'll probably never get Rock Band for that reason. If a game gets to easy or there are exploits, I develop a set of house rules to play by to make it a challenge. And with Civ IV in particular, the game is incredibly challenging for me even on the middle difficulty levels, so I don't worry about not being challenged.

I gotta say that I'm also not big into multiplayer for most games - and certainly not online. It can be a lot of fun to sit back with a buddy on the couch and do some solid gaming but it seems that as I get older those days are rare, rare, rare. I'd rather play against the CPU at my own pace then have to compete with a bunch of faceless 13-year olds in cyberspace.

I don't think many 13 year olds are playing Civ 4. And it does not matter the age of participants, so long as there is sufficient skill on display. You need not have a conversation with them. AI is canned. Humans are unpredictable.

That's not a knock against those that prefer SP games. Just saying, for those that do enjoy a rigorous game experience, MP is often the place to get it. In the case of Civ 4, the play balance in MP was lacking.

These are facts.

I understand the predictability thing, but all I'm looking for is a challenge. And even if the Civ AI is predictable, it can still whip my ass on most levels.

Yes, but by your own admission- you suck at Civ 4.

I would use an emoticon at the end of that statement if I were the sort of boarder who did that in a sincere manner. I am not.

Well, I don't suck at NCAA football, and I have no interest in playing humans in that game, either. I prefer my own self-created universe that no one else participates in. I'm more interested in a dynasty than a one-off game "for fun." But then again, that's why I play text sims most of the time.

What do you play? I think we may share a similar taste in games.

You mean as far as text sims? Mainly in the sports realm - Front Office Football and The College Years (both from Solecismic Software), Out of the Park Baseball, Pure Sim Baseball (now Draft Day Sports Baseball), used to play Baseball Mogul, tried to get into Football Manager and East Coast Hockey but didn't like the European-centric aspects of the games, a bunch of games from Grey Dog Software and Wolverine Studios. Even dabbled a bit with non-sports stuff like Hollywood Mogul and Power Politics.

Most of the developers of these games are members at a message board that was originally dedicated to Front Office Football and now has morphed into a general text sim and gaming community. I've been on that board since 2000. We just moved to Operation Sports' servers last week from Gamespy (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/).

I posted a bunch of info about the impending release of OOTP9 in the baseball thread; didn't think many people in this thread would be too interested so I posted it there.

Just reached level 21 in Age Of Conan and am beginning to explore the larger world.

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

just logged 3 or 4 hours of chrono trigger. i'm a bit more than halfway through now, what a great game.

whoa. I was just playing around in the Spore creature creator and it's really fun. Even with all the limitations b/c it's a trial, it was a blast. I can't wait for it to come out, it'll be crazy to see all the combinations you can make for a creature.

Totally. Tortage is nothing in comparison to where you go next. Some of the scenery is just epic. Are you still playing PvP?

When I started my Herald of Xoliti(sp?) character I inadvertedly picked a PvE server. Is it possible to switch your character to a PvP server or will I have to start again from scratch and pick the correct server?

Either way, this game is hugely enjoyable. I've been reading the forums and it seems HoX are a pretty difficult class to play in PvP. Whilst they dish out some huge damage (fire lance is supposed to be the best combo in the game), they're pretty weak with their inability to wield a shield and wear anything but cloth armour. Still, I love my character and he's developing nicely.

Brilliant game.


edit: I think I might start my character again. PvP seems to be place to be. Tyranny server you say?