And this goes without saying but your tastes are running fairly orthogonal to most other gamers I know. Even shooter fans. Mass Effect and Far Cry are well loved in every other circle I run in. So there's that... 

But yeah - ME series being good - so the official line is that "That's the word on the street". All the hip folks back home really love the ME series. Yeah. Well it's not for me. And I tried to like Far Cry 2, I really did. But it was so repetitive, and the fast travel system was still tedious. By the end I just didn't have the energy for it.

I'm just a random gamer discussing my opinions of the mainstream gaming media. And a mainstream game. And yes, I have a narrow opinion, who doesn't. I know what I like, and I like what I know.

You don't seem to be able to handle my harsh criticisms of said mainstream gaming entities, is that because you have a vested interest in them? 

Me? I don't care what you say about media outlets or whatever. Rant away. My issue was with your calling one review honest and others not, without having any knowledge of their motivations OR even having played the game yourself.

That's all. 

Dishonored looks great. Steampunk = awesome. Long as I can just shoot shit up instead of listening through keyholes to random conversations. Lots of whores in it as well, which is always a plus. I'm glad Arkane are doing it, it's about time they did something new - it's been 6 years since their last game Dark Messiah. 

are the rpg elements in ME3 further simplified from ME2? that was one of my major problems with ME2. :( 

actually, i should probably say stats/class stuff as opposed to RPG.
i like setting up characters and builds. :) 

Willem, we have < q > </ q > tags, would be awesome if you could use them. Searching for the closing " when skimming over posts sucks. 

If this board used standard tags, I might care. As it is, if I can't remember what to use I don't. :) 

would <span class="quote"></span> be standard enough for you? 

If that's what you believe the standard for message boards is ... sure. 

BBCode some sort of standard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBCode 

some sort of standard 

Note, I am not using the nerd sense of the word "standard". I'm using it more in the "what most people are used to" sense.

But yes, mirroring BBCode would make the codes more likely to get used.

Also, adding buttons to insert them would help as well.

But this really has nothing to do with PC Games, so... 

 

I'm not surprised Mass Effect's combat is getting a bad rap on a Quake board - it's doing things that are quite the opposite to what a hardcore Quake player would find interesting (I'm generalising, but I've heard so many people on this board share the same views about cover-based combat, that I think it's a fair generalisation).

Personally I really liked (nearly loved) Mass Effect 1, as I got an very atmospheric and engrossing space opera. I enjoyed the combat, but I enjoy a very wide range of combat mechanics, so I'm quite easily pleased. Haven't played 2 or 3 yet. 

I like cover mechanics when they're done well... 

is not an rpg at all. i think of it as an action game with lots of dialogue. but the mechanics are a lot like, say the batman games. you get xp, buy points for that skill you like and move on.

dragon age on the other hand, thats an rpg. the first on i mean, haven't played the second one. and while it is linear like mass effect, i really think it was done in a much, much better way.

but i love the mass effect games. i love the atmosphere and the looks of it, funky sci-fi stuff and even cyberpunk sometimes. but i agree, the games are linear and the combat is very simple, cover based stuff. i wish there was more exploration, but strangely i don't mind the linearity of it.

even choices are not really an issue because its something that just happens. i wish it was more like, say the witcher, which i think its the only game that does choices really well.

haven't played the third yet. will wait for a price drop. not enough $$ to buy new games these days.

somehow i feel this post is useless, but i'm posting it anyway. :) 

I was just having a poop when I realised that naming argument about Rage was full of shit. Remember those movies with the Empire and the Rebellion? 

I'm not sure about the Rage argument (I haven't seen it in context), but in general names are super important and will always influence your perception of things. (The degree to which it does, and your awareness of it, will differ between people and scenarios, but it will always colour your perception and there is nothing you can do about it).

If it doesn't matter, why not just name everything in a generic and functional fashion? Who cares, right? Might as well call your items weapon1, weapon2, weapon3, etc. How about your skills? You've unlocked ability 1! Wow. Can't wait till I get ability 4! You were slain by melee1. Oh no. You picked up 5 units of ammo for weapon 6. Yeah!

Gonna go rock the house in coop with RemoteClient4! FUCK YEAH! 

'You picked up four 5.56m Jacketed Hollow Point rounds for your M24A SOCOM X-4F Elite ranger 4.4344443434 27n gunwank carbine.'

No the names do matter, but they aren't the big deal being made of them. If the Authority had been introduced properly, had some proper backstory and a build up of threat it would have been a sore point but easily forgotten. The fact they weren't means that the name now stands out, because it's the ONLY thing we know about them.

Half-Life 2 and the Combine had a mystery about it that was interesting, and you encountered a lot of their activities, so the boring name didn't mean anything because it was drowned out by the other stuff.

Given the same company gave us the 'Strogg', I'm not sure I care about basic names in games. At least it allows us to avoid having to read about the shimbogs and their leader flobblewobble's involvement in the yuktuk wars of timblemin-minor against the savage tribe rrr-thuk-rgggrg. Because that's the shit we'd end up with. 

The Combine is actually a good name. A combine, used in farming, is a great metaphor for what they did to Earth. Someone put some thought into that and it works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combine_harvester

Also, there's the aliens and humans working together in combination angle. 

Quick Mercenaries 2 review. Bit of a shit game, 5/10. I was expecting a short, cool, fps. Got an open world, third person RPG/shooter reminiscent of Saints Row 2, only worse.

http://www.etherealhell.com/etherealhell/reviews/2012/mercenaries2.php 

some old propaganda and propaganda posters referred to nazi forces as a giant combine tearing up the earth, if I recall correctly. Art depicted a giant combine with a swastika instead of the rotating blades churning up the countryside. 

Thanks to Spirit, the DICK, I'm kind of replaying it again (the "portable" version). So great. People usually credit SS2, but the first one has more atmosphere imo. Maybe because of the low res textures and sprites. Quite nonlinear and explorative gameplay, even secret doors and areas. And with the pistols you can even rapid-fire like in HL if your trigger/mousefinger allows it. Just cleared the medical deck - didn't remember there were so many reinforcement mutants.

The standard controls take some getting used to, but it can (and should) be set to play like Doom. Spirit: I found out that E enables mouselook. It's a good idea to check out the reference card, although some standard key are remapped in the WASD config. 

Even in this day and age.