cryptik76

I think this would be really cool as a party game, when you have a group of people there who wouldn't touch a dual shock controller...

It's also a good idea to be aware of the levels of your characters and the level of an enemy (the color bar of the enemy will change depending on how many levels higher or lower than you it is). Sometimes you can't help but be ambushed by an army of much tougher creatures, but sometimes you can plan ahead.

Dungeon Siege II is, for the most part, superior to the original and its expansion. I don't remember there being backpacks in the original... are you thinking of Neverwinter Nights? Like you, I'm annoyed that you can't automatically switch potions among members of the party. The weak link in my party (the combat mage that's always getting knocked unconscious) constantly needs potions and I miss being able to switch them by clicking a single icon. I don't know why they cut that feature out. It was a nice time saver in the original. Other than that (and the mostly dull music) I think it's quite superior to the original. The story is far more interesting (though that's not saying much), the characters are more fleshed out, and even though the game is still hopelessly linear, it doesn't feel as linear to me as the original. I also like that there are more caves and things off the path that you can explore. The original had some caves and stuff towards the beginning, but as the game wore on, there was less and less to do off the main game path. The combat is also far more interactive, and I like the special moves and the character building. Of course, all of this is being compared to the original, which I admit I liked at the time, but that was before I began to really get into RPG's. Dungeon Siege II isn't perfect, but it's very good and one of the best PC-only games I've played this year. I don't think it sold well, despite the hype, because there was a lot of backlash after the first game. It was one of those games, like Black & White, people really enjoyed in the first few weeks after its release, and then suddenly it became a joke among PC gamers (ie: potion-drinking simulator, the game that plays itself, etc.). Both DS and B&W had superior sequels released this year, but how many noticed?

It always takes me forever to beat a game. I have games that I'm still trying to finish that I've been working on for years.

And Dark Reign 2.

Um, actually that's about normal for any PSP game. Movies are even worse.

Yeah, I agree, there are too many good games to list. It's true that there is an abundance of Pokemon & movie license games on the system, but if you look around you can find a plethora of excellent titles. Plus they have the Activision Anthology, which is worth having a GBA for by itself.

I never, ever trade games in. That used game market is a racket. It does no good for anyone, except the store. That being said, I agree with the guesses that these kids probably found better prices for used games. I haven't seen good prices anywhere, but especially not at EB.

I think part of the problem is that if they're going to try and sell the game in the Christian market, they're going to meet a lot of opposition if there is any content in the game that could be considered objectionable. While Zelda-style gameplay with Biblical characters wouldn't offend many Christians, there are small but rather loud fringe groups who believe that any sort of simulated violence is wrong. So, probably in an attempt to keep controversy at a minimum, they strip out anything that would make most games "fun" and put Bible trivia on a cartridge. Even then, there's a possibility they may offend some groups if they decide to quote from the "wrong" version of the Bible. That, and they probably had a low budget.

Busted!

I really hate video game commercials that show pre-rendered cutscenes or some other junk and never actually show the gameplay itself.

Has anyone else picked up this new PSP title? I think some retailers won't have it out until tomorrow, but Gamestop and EB and I'm sure other stores have it on the shelves today. I think it's pretty amazing so far, considering all this is being done on a handheld. There's some occasional slowdown, and the controls may take a little getting used to, but the graphics are very nice and it really has the "feel" of GTA. The radio stations are there, the voice acting is good, and even the load times are reasonable. I can't believe that only a year or so ago I was impressed with Grand Theft Auto Advance.

I have Nomad Soul, but I never really gave it a chance. Did you ever finish it? How long of a game is it?

Wizardry 8 may be a hard game to find. Sir-Tech published the game themselves. They were able to produce enough copies to give it some presence at places like EBGames and Gamestop, but this was a few years ago and Ebay may be the only way to get it now. Your system specs you listed are very similar to my last computer, except I was running Win 98 and had a slightly slower processor, and I was using a GeForce 3 Ti 200 64MB card, which may be better than the Radeon 7000 series. All the games I listed ran well on that computer, so I don't think you should have too much trouble.

Well, very likely it was a new game, but they almost always take the games out of their cases before they put it on the shelf. Actually, my local EB Games will have a case on the shelf, and when you take it up to the counter, they give you a sealed one from behind the counter. The problem is that, particularly in mall stores, people like to steal games. All of us decent people who don't do stuff like that have to pay for what other people do. It's similar to the reason why PC gamers have to often put up with awful forms of copy protection in order to play the games we legally bought. It sucks, but stores have to protect their interests. If it bothers you that much, you can shop at one of the many stores that don't do that.

Well, the DS and N-Gage versions are very stripped-down graphically (and I've heard bad things about the controls for the DS version). If it takes them until February 2006 to do a decent, full-featured version for the PSP, to me that's worth the wait.

The only component on your computer that will make playing Dungeon Siege II a chore will be your video card. Most newer PC games put a lot of strain on video cards, and I don't believe the 7000 series will be capable of running it at a satisfactory framerate (if at all). Here's a list of some decent older games that you should be able to play. The only problem that arises is that some of them don't fully cooperate with XP and may require a workaround of sorts. FPS (and the like): -Thief 1 & 2 (the third game, Deadly Shadows, likely won't work) -No One Lives Forever (the sequel may not work) -Deus Ex -Half-Life & Counter-Strike -Return to Castle Wolfenstein -Clive Barker's Undying -Aliens vs. Predator 2 -Unreal & Unreal Tournament -The Wheel of Time -System Shock 2 (good luck finding it, though) Other Good Action Games: -Blade of Darkness -Oni -Rune -Giants: Citizen Kabuto -Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising (a shooter/strategy hybrid) -Battlezone 1 & 2 (same as above) -MDK 2 -Sacrifice (another action/strategy hybrid) -Descent 3 -Freespace series (Descent:Freespace & Freespace 2, though good luck finding the latter) -Freelancer -Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project (2D shooter in a 3D world) -American McGee's Alice -Crimson Skies -Zax: The Alien Hunter -Max Payne RPG's: -Nox (action-RPG) -Darkstone (action-RPG) -Blade & Sword (action-RPG, mostly action) -Divine Divinity -Planescape: Torment -Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 -Wizardry 8 -Fate (download-only, a demo of it is at wildtangent.com I think) -Arx Fatalis Hopefully these should all work pretty well with your computer. I'm suspicious of that video card, though.

Man, and I was going to buy two! Either that, or it's the cause of the divorce in the first place.

I've come across a lot of women who like games with murdering in them. I've noticed they also like female protagonists in games, but I'm sure it's annoying when all the female main characters have tight pants and humongous boobs. Would you like playing a game where your character is a male with denim cut-offs and a huge bulge in his crotch?

I agree with 10, 6, and 1, and partially with 8 (I only dislike cinema sequences when they are unskippable). 1 is a pet peeve of mine. I just think it's stupid how women are portrayed in games. So much so that it's a breath of fresh air when there's a normal female character. My favorite female character in a game is Darci Stern, the protagonist of Urban Chaos. Not only is she a respectable female character without huge boobs, but she's African American as well, which is another group that is often unfairly portrayed in games.

I second (or in some cases, third) the following recommendations: Sid Meier's Pirates! Dungeon Siege II Tron 2.0 Counter-Strike: Source I would also add Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, and a somewhat older but always awesome game, Max Payne 2. Thief: Deadly Shadows is also good, but if you haven't treated yourself to the first two Thief games, you need to drop what you're doing and get them. Play the trilogy in order. Don't mind the aging graphics of the first two games.

Re-Volt is definitely one of my favorite racing games. I don't know if you've done this yet, but you may still be able to find user-made tracks online. And I don't mean tracks made with the crappy included track editor. I mean tracks that are just as good as the tracks included with the game. Try looking for "all instance" Re-Volt tracks. As far as other racing games on the PC go, one game I love is called 1nsane (by Codemasters). It's an off-road racing game with a ton of different modes, from regular racing to checkpoint racing to capture-the-flag and more. The physics are incredible, but it's pretty easy to get into and not very realistic (when your car gets too wrecked to continue, you can instantly repair it with a button press). You may be able to find it on Ebay. It's a few years old, but it still looks good. I'd definitely recommend 1nsane, if you can find it.

The randomly generated levels in Untold Legends aren't too bad. It gets repetitive after a while (especially once you realize it's a bunch of boxes and rectangles), but at least the levels have a decent variety in aesthetics and textures and stuff.

Ahahahaha, that's awesome!

My only problem with Nintendo is that they rely far too much on old franchises. I like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc., but where are the new franchises?