Forgotten Gems: Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
Review - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Sat 2 October 2010, 11:42:38
Tags: Strategic Simulations, Inc.Other than completing the main plot there are a couple of areas to explore, many of which will have a subplot or a few interesting sidequests to do. Contrary to the “escape the arena” solution, the violent approach isn’t always the best. Sometimes settling a conflict peacefully gains you the best rewards. Of course, being an AD&D game, Dark Sun: Shattered Lands has no skills, as diplomacy and the like, so instead of skill checks in dialogues it’s generally up to you which course of action you choose when talking to NPCs. It’s most likely wise to be not overly hostile; sometimes you might find unexpected allies against the Drajian army.
Read on for the full review...
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Knights of the Chalice – A Heroic Fantasy Adventure
Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Sun 5 September 2010, 03:54:27
Tags: Heroic Fantasy Games; Knights of the ChaliceBut is the game fun? Read the rest to find out.
There are 56 comments on Knights of the Chalice – A Heroic Fantasy Adventure
Review - posted by Elwro on Wed 18 August 2010, 10:10:28
Tags: Basilisk Games; Eschalon: Book IIThere are a few well done locations (Port Kuudad has its fair share of secrets) and quests. For example, to cut a long story short, a dwarf asks you to steal a puppy from a big wolf. You are told to bring exactly one puppy and leave the rest in the den. You will be tempted to take more than one, because they are valuable and you could certainly use the cash. You are told that something bad will happen if you take more than one puppy... and let me just tell you that it does happen. You have to weigh this consequence against your heavier purse. A real choice, a good quest.
Outcast - a genre bending masterpiece
Codex Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 19 July 2010, 09:13:03
Tags: Appeal; OutcastHelping this is the careful scripting of the NPCs. Talanzaar, the bazaar-esque trading hub of Adelpha is a case in point. Dozens of NPCs carry loads, move to and from each other, go on set 'rounds' or patrols, go to their workshops to craft items for you and generally, well, make it look like the bustling bazaar. It simply beggars belief why games almost ten years later still can't do something similarly convincing. Similar sentiments apply to the fauna too.
If the game sounds mildly interesting, you can pick it up from GOG these days. /Shameless plug
There are 33 comments on Outcast - a genre bending masterpiece
Annie Mitsoda's (nee Carlson's) Zombie Baby
Interview - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 12 July 2010, 15:56:04
Tags: Annie VanderMeer; DoubleBear Productions<p style="text-align: left;">
<p style="text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;">Can't go into details about our stage of development, but that focus question is a good one so I'ma address that. Functionally speaking, I'm going to say we have to get the combat working on a solid model, because it's tied into a lot of basic character creation skills. Also it's a common adage among designers that "if the combat sucks, your game is fucked," so we want to get the basics of that working well before we get the survival/management aspects ironed out. I'd say they're of equal importance, but perfecting the functionality of the combat I think is a little higher priority, but also easier to do at the early stages and will require fundamentally less polish and tweaking than the management aspects will.
<p style="text-align: left;">
<p style="text-align: left;">... and turds:
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I recall being fantastically pissed-off at <span style="font-style: italic;">Dark Cloud</span> - not only because at the time I had no money for games and my computer would play basically nothing at all, but because you could get trapped in an attack combo that could break your weapon right in the middle of it. Since you didn't really gain levels but your weapon did, that meant you were suddenly fucked. Also you had to eat and drink, which was implemented particularly shittily. It's not that I can't handle food in an RPG, it was just really terrible in that game. It was poo topping on a crap sundae.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">
Read the rest here.
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Avadon: The Black Fortress Interview
Interview - posted by Jason on Sun 13 June 2010, 08:47:48
Tags: Avadon: The Black Fortress; Jeff Vogel; Spiderweb Software<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Now that the details for Avadon: The Black Fortess are out and about, we thought it time to pin down Jeff Vogel for another round of questioning.
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Any future plans not related to Avadon?
Quite a few. We’re looking hard at the future, figuring out if we have a place in it. In the near future, will will be releasing new, highly upgraded versions of the first Avernum trilogy. They are about a decade old and really showing their age.
We are also looking hard at other platforms. Specifically the little ones that you carry around everywhere.
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Mass Effect 2: A Narratological Review
Editorial - posted by DarkUnderlord on Fri 11 June 2010, 04:47:57
Tags: Mass Effect 2
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="postbody">The real problem is the titanic catastrophe of the plot itself. There are lots of little niggles with ME2 (“Why do I start looking like the terminator if I pick nasty options in dialogue?” “If the Collectors go through the O4 relay, why don’t people notice this/why not just blockade it or blow up the relay?&rdquo but these are sufficiently minor that you assume some semi-plausible explanation can be fan-wanked in. The main plot of ME2 careens from the simply sloppy (reliance on plot coupons and McGuffins), to the irredeemably bad ‘oh-god-I-hope-this-gets-retconned’ stupid (the human Reaper). </span>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">[...]
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="postbody"> Jetting off half-way across the galaxy to lift emotional baggage for the party made them less a crack team of elite specialists and more an angst battalion. </span>
<span class="postbody">Fan-wanking commence! Your angst battalion has been attacked!
</span>
There are 42 comments on Mass Effect 2: A Narratological Review
The #5 RPGs of the Decade (that we think you should play)
Editorial - posted by DarkUnderlord on Tue 18 May 2010, 02:29:38
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Gothic 2 was, in the eyes of most fans, the very best installment of the series. It had a reasonably-sized world (quite large, but not too large), every single encounter was hand-placed which led to perfect balancing, and it had the best NPC schedules since Ultima VII. The capital city of the game really felt alive, with NPCs going about their daily business, going to the pub in the evening and sleeping at night. Many quests had multiple solutions (there were at least three ways to enter the city, and the expansion added another one) which, sometimes, required you to use your brain.
We've included our personal picks, did some argy-bargy to pick a "top #5 that you should play", before finishing off with the Your Choice Awards. That's where we asked you to send in your pick for RPG of the decade. You didn't but we've included the responses of those who did. We also picked three random winners from that competition which without further ado are as follows:
- <span class="postbody">stony3k (Arcanum)</span>
- <span class="postbody">Ronald Abadi (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
</span> - <span class="postbody">Dandelion (Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines)
</span>
So go on and read our conclusion to the 2000's in RPGs.
There are 88 comments on The #5 RPGs of the Decade (that we think you should play)
RPG of the Decade - Developers' Choice
Information - posted by DarkUnderlord on Fri 16 April 2010, 06:02:24
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I mentioned earlier that "choice and consequence" is a catch-cry here on the Codex. Well, choice and consequence is not an ingredient in a Bethesda game. In your typical Bethesda game, you get to role-play everyone. You get to make every choice, typically without any consequences.
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<p style="padding-left: 30px;">And by God does that make their games hugely successful.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">[...]
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="postbody">Tim Cain: There were so many good RPG’s released in the last decade that it is hard to choose the “RPG of the Decade”. I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t played some of them, and I only want to nominate a game that I have played. And that list is still large: Baldur’s Gate 2, Icewind Dale 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age (Bioware is on a roll in my list, you can see), Fable, Deus Ex, Fallout 3, Geneforge. So I am going with a game that captured my imagination and that I played for many many hours, and that I think about when designing my own games. And that game is… </span>
<span class="postbody">Read the rest to find out!</span>
<span class="postbody">We're also running a competition. Let us know what your RPG of the decade is and we'll give a random entrant a free GOG game of their choice. </span>Competition closes 30th April 2010.
There are 222 comments on RPG of the Decade - Developers' Choice
Interview with Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games
Interview - posted by Jason on Sun 11 April 2010, 04:40:31
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -->
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 30px;">The gameplay is much more dialogue oriented than the typical adventure game, as shown by Sierra and Lucas Arts, where you mostly collect and combine items. What made you decide to deviate from the traditional adventure formula and focus on dialogue instead of items?
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 30px;">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 30px;">Even though Blackwell deals with ghosts, it’s very grounded in reality. And in a setting like that, it’s hard to justify the usual adventure game puzzles of using objects in obscure ways to solve arbitrary puzzles. In you’re in a fantasy game and you find a door that can only be opened by six mystical bagels, then fine. You can accept that. But when the setting is urban noir, it’s more difficult to suspend your disbelief. So instead I focused more on dialog-related puzzles and gameplay. I’ve always been a sucker for games like that.
There are 34 comments on Interview with Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games
Mass Effect: A Narratological Review
Editorial - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 5 April 2010, 09:11:26
Tags: Mass Effect
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">These are good subversions, but they aren't pulled off properly. Humans are still 'special', and one of the endings of the game lets you put them wholly in charge. Whatever choice you make humans become the top dog, as all of the other species get mauled by the terminators. The reveal of the real big bad (the 'Reapers') does set them up as nasty villains ("slaughtering all life in the galaxy? peh. We've done that repeatedly for millions of years.") But no explanation is ever offered for why they bother doing this - Bioware hides behind alien inscrutability (you can't possibly understand, beyond your comprehension etc. etc.) Maybe sequels will satisfy this, but I don't hold my breath for this explanation being any good.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">[...]
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">One thing that deserves a rant are the SPECTREs (Special whatever and Tactical Reconassaince, or whatever the backronym was.) Another part of Bioware's formula is having a leet crew of kewl people who have absolute power to protect the established order by any means necessary (see the Grey Wardens). This trope is rammed into the game with barely any justification. Intelligence services? Sure. Black ops? Fine. But mankind has never done this 'special dudes who are cool and answer to no one' as the best way of doing these things. Why would wider alien community (of multiple species) agree to this sort of thing? What if one of them discovers a plot device of doom and goes crazy?
Crazy is good.
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Knights of the Chalice Interview with Pierre Begue
Interview - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Mon 1 March 2010, 22:59:31
Tags: Knights of the Chalice<p style="padding-left: 30px;">5. In contrast to most of today's RPGs you didn't include skills and skill dependent non-combat gameplay. Different skills are typically a prerequisite for alternate quest solutions, the handling of specific situations (diplomatic, combat, stealth etc.) and the like. What's your stance on that?
I am totally in favour of having distinct solutions to quests, but as a designer I prefer to leave it to the player to decide what course of action he would rather take. In other words, I am not in favour of leaving out options to bluff, lie, tell the truth, intimidate, or be diplomatic at any point just because a character lacks points in one skill or another. Now it may well be that you need to perform a skill check to see if the bluff or diplomacy was successful, but you could instead make a check based on one of the character's main abilities (Charisma, Wisdom, etc). So I don't see skills as essential to the system.
Furthermore, in my opinion, it's much more important and interesting for a CRPG to provide a few options with distinct follow-up outcomes, than a lot of options all leading to the same outcome (even if they go through a different skill check).
Read the full interview
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Editorial - posted by DarkUnderlord on Thu 18 February 2010, 12:35:33
Tags: The Year in Review<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Another thing that didn't happen in 2009 was Obsidian's much talked about RPG set in the Aliens universe. Josh Sawyer's run of bad luck heading up projects that get cancelled continued. Rather than being released or even having development continue at a merry pace, it was cancelled in early February... or later in June depending on who you want to believe. Staff were laid-off, assets may have been disposed of and children may have been harmed in the end of production.
2009: The list of things that didn't happen.
Let's Review Dragon Age: Origins! (again)
Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 8 February 2010, 04:05:11
Tags: Dragon Age: Origins
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="postbody">Well, the game finally made it to stores last month, so it is time to talk about it. Since Bioware claims that it is a spiritual successor to <span style="font-style: italic;">Baldur's Gate II</span>, I will make comparisons between the two. While it is a somewhat decent game, I do not think it meets the (admittedly low) standards set by <span style="font-style: italic;">Baldur's Gate II</span>. </span>
There are 27 comments on Let's Review Dragon Age: Origins! (again)
Review - posted by JarlFrank on Sat 6 February 2010, 02:35:41
Tags: VeneticaThe game is very action-focused and has a good story with interesting characters, but the RPG elements are light and the game suffers from a multitude of bugs and performance problems.
Read our review here.
Dragon Age: Choices and Consequences
Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Sat 23 January 2010, 06:35:41
Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age: OriginsRead the rest here.
There are 26 comments on Dragon Age: Choices and Consequences
Risen – probably the strongest deja-vu you’ll ever experience
Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Sun 13 December 2009, 14:39:33
Tags: Piranha Bytes; Risen[...]
If you join the inquisition, you’ll end up in the monastery, where you’ll need to finish your basic training first. The monastery is also home to some of the most interesting quests in the game. For example, the first test you’ll have to pass, is the test of combat. You’ll need to beat three recruits first, and in the end challenge Master Aric, the combat trainer. You can approach Aric in two ways – if you grasped Risen’s combat really well already, you can try beating him fair and square, but it’s a tough fight. However, if you get beaten once, you can ask the other recruits for advice, and you’ll be able to drastically tip the scales in your favour by getting Aric drunk and replacing his fancy sword with a weak one. Another well done quest is the murder investigation – you’ll feel like in The Name of the Rose, gathering clues about the murder, interrogating witnesses, and eventually pretending to be a weed trader to lure out the murderer, who’ll turn out to be, well… someone you probably didn’t expect.
Read the rest here.
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Codex Good Old Games Short Story Competition
Competition - posted by DarkUnderlord on Tue 25 August 2009, 13:47:22
Thanks to all those who entered. The winners are:
- Speculative fiction set in a future society based around the teachings of Volourn.
- Darth Roxor. For a r00falicious Volournian poem.
- Quilty. While the judges weren't entirely certain of it's relevance to the topic, the visual imagery was hard to pass up.
- Why/How Age of Decadence should be made into an MMORPG. Entrants are encouraged to include hypothetical gameplay examples and prototype screenshots.
- Silellak. How could we pass up the MMOARPG or screenshots accurately typifying the average MMO experience?
- Annie Carlson. Someone else's breadcrumb trail came close but Annie's revolutionary click combat "where whichever opponent is able to click their mouse button the most times is declared the winner" won the day.
- Developing Grimoire: A Day in the Life.
- Elite. A clear judges favourite for conveying Cleve's endless suffering as an intellectually talented developer.
- Seymour. This was difficult as the judges were going for Darth Roxor but his Volournian poem took the prize, leaving Seymour to collect on his entry here.
- DarkUnderlord
- POOPERSCOOPER. Truly, a visual masterpiece.
- Shannow. Ultimately for mentioning Fez, just pipping spacemoose to the prize
- Attack of the 50-foot Multi-Headed Dick.
- Data4. A clear winner in this category for his lovecraftian epic. Though the judges insist he complete his masterwork before collecting his prize...
- Occasionally Fatal. A struggle in this category with many winners considered but OF coming through in the end, possibly because of cigars.
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NWN2: Mysteries of Westgate Review
Review - posted by baby arm on Sun 17 May 2009, 01:58:05
Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate; Ossian StudiosHere's his review.
Ron Gilbert - the DeathSpank Interview
Interview - posted by baby arm on Tue 12 May 2009, 07:10:58
Tags: DeathSpank; Ron GilbertRead on...
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