tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post7288941950435118774..comments2020-05-11T19:30:14.785-07:00Comments on Above 49: Si Vis Pacem, Para BellumNels Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06484436433023780229noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post-53230427023696740982013-07-02T21:12:10.631-07:002013-07-02T21:12:10.631-07:00i love bats! that is such a sweet story! let us kn...i love bats! that is such a sweet story! let us know how your feng shui goes...my bedroom is the house pigsty (i wonder what that means?)<br /><a href="http://germanpupp.com/" rel="nofollow"> <strong><b>Adorable german shepherd</b></strong></a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02680359450723514109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post-70963771705299175312010-12-09T19:51:17.292-08:002010-12-09T19:51:17.292-08:00@Gaming in Public Having recently shipped a game w...@Gaming in Public Having recently shipped a game with a pretty serious bug, for us at least, it wasn't intentional. Games a just way more complex than they were in the days of yore. Even with literally thousands of man-hours spent testing our game, not all the bugs were found (our ugliest one involved a random number generator that wasn't completely random). Doing a console patch is actually a tremendous hassle and nobody wants to do that unless it's absolutely necessary (at least for a smaller studio).<br /><br />So yeah, it sucks, but god, I'm glad the ability to patch non-PC games exists. Far better than the alternative of never patching at all.Nels Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06484436433023780229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post-31238670178124428102010-12-09T14:10:29.992-08:002010-12-09T14:10:29.992-08:00It is sad though that games can use the excuse of ...It is sad though that games can use the excuse of patches "coming soon!" What ever happened to the game is done we have tested it, lets ship it. I am not saying there are idiots mistakes are bound to be made but it just feels like now games are allowed to make more because patches can be made later.Jacob Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15330616929971450515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post-86785014167504824412010-12-09T09:32:13.866-08:002010-12-09T09:32:13.866-08:00@Gaming in Public It's Obsidian not Bethesda, ...@Gaming in Public It's Obsidian not Bethesda, but yeah, there's some weirdness. I didn't hit me much, and since I was playing on PC, it's easy to fix weirdness in the console. But yeah, if one doesn't have it yet, there would be no harm in waiting for the big ol' patch that's coming down the pike soon.<br /><br />@Sparky Yeah, that was really strange. It feels like, coincidentally enough <i>Fallout 2</i>, where design wasn't really centralized and didn't have someone watching over it for consistency. I can't imagine any other way it takes sense to get good karma for killing Powder Gangers, Fiends and ghouls (but only sometimes). I don't remember anything like that in <i>Fallout 3</i>, at least nothing so weirdly granular. And of course you still get bad karma for stealing people's literal garbage. =(<br /><br />And maybe Caesar's tumor was causing his erratic behaviour? Hmmmmm?? ... No, it was just a bit inconsistent. Matthew "The Wasteland" Burns said the same and I can see that perspective. I think the Legion kind of fits with Fallout's black absurdity (almost in a <i>Lord of the Flies</i> way), but I totally get thinking it was a bit much. I'm also a sucker for the ancient world, so I'm aware of the big ol' blinders I got on.Nels Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06484436433023780229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post-90032039225839676842010-12-09T09:20:23.123-08:002010-12-09T09:20:23.123-08:00@Jason What I don't like is good/evil as prosc...@Jason What I don't like is good/evil as proscribed by the game itself is that it takes away the player's ability to morally reason about decisions in the game. It makes the grey area impossible, because the game tells you what is black and what is white.<br /><br />With the Legion, there's definitely a lot of things that certainly extreme, but one might approach it from a perspective of "the ends justify the means." If you talk to anyone that's lived in lands conquered by the Legion, they are free of raiders, taxed lightly, have reliable infrastructure, etc. Anyone who embraces the Legion is treated fairly. It's only those that resist who get the lash.<br /><br />Does that make the actions of the Legion justified? Maybe, maybe not. But it would be an interesting hypothetical, except the game takes that away by saying, "Nope, it's actually just evil."<br /><br />Unlike so many other "moral choice" games there the decisions are absurdly extreme ("Adopt this puppy or set fire to that orphanage?"), as a fiction, Fallout actually has the right tone for asking people to make a decision where there is no good or right answer. It's always irked me that the Karma system totally short circuits that, but it seems the most egregious in <i>New Vegas</i>.<br /><br />Heh, /rambleNels Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06484436433023780229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post-23925200281122637202010-12-07T13:40:32.801-08:002010-12-07T13:40:32.801-08:00I thought the karma system was very unsatisfying h...I thought the karma system was very unsatisfying here (even more so than in <i>Fallout 3</i>), and the game would probably have been better off clipping it out entirely. The karma reward for shooting feral ghouls was merely strange -- why not offer karma for killing cazadores or deathclaws in that case? The karma reward for killing Powder Gangers was more of a problem, as it actively undermined the moral ambiguity of NCR's actions with them.<br /><br />Of course, moral ambiguity didn't work out well for the Legion either, as they were just too repugnant to take seriously. I actually thought they were fairly cartoonish, although I agree they were better antagonists than <i>Fallout 3</i>'s surprise Enclave. Caesar especially was something of a basket case, with his decisions and attitudes often having much more to do with what was convenient for the writers than what would be consistent for the character.Sparkyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10444352252473400411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post-39311917927903904272010-12-06T15:39:49.764-08:002010-12-06T15:39:49.764-08:00To be honest i have not yet picked up Fallout: New...To be honest i have not yet picked up Fallout: New Vegas. I have been on the fence knowing Bethesda's track record with games. I think they are really amazing at telling a story and making you feel like the character you play. The thing they lack is a smooth free game. Look at Knights of the Old Republic 2 an amazing story but and game littered with bad frame rates. <br /><br />Bugs aside from what you have said this still seems like a must play in my book.Jacob Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15330616929971450515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6542773327630613295.post-1049427186220089352010-12-06T11:57:03.812-08:002010-12-06T11:57:03.812-08:00I agree that the Legion is a great antagonist. Fra...I agree that the Legion is a great antagonist. Frankly, though, I have a harder time understanding your aversion to granting negative karma to pro-Legion actions.<br /><br />First, I should concede that the universal karma system isn't handled too adeptly in this game overall. For the most part, the only effect it has (that I know of) is that if you are sufficiently evil, certain companions won't travel with you. This does make sense, as I could see certain characters not wanting to hang out with you if you murdered everyone you met, everywhere. Otherwise, though, karma is entirely in the background of the game, not referenced much in the rules, and only really visible when you get the puzzling little message saying you earned karma for killing feral ghouls and Fiends in self-defense.<br /><br />That said, the Legion feels like the obvious "Very Evil" allegiance to me, even if it is an interesting and complicated kind of evil. I haven't yet finished playing a Legion-aligned playthrough because I can only do it in small doses. I feel like I need to do it from a professional/academic standpoint, but it makes me feel unhappy to kill innocent people and work in the support of people who enslave women and children as a matter of course. Are there other, more morally ambiguous missions to come?Jason Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17652211402639394877noreply@blogger.com