Posts by Thrik

Ten things I learned from the Guild Wars 2 beta weekend

Just broke $2,000,000.

My other baby Mojo has just re-posted some ancient trips to Double Fine when they first got started and Psychonauts was being kicked into production:

http://mixnmojo.com/features/sitefeatur ... ouble-Fine

http://mixnmojo.com/features/sitefeatur ... ouble-Fine

Pretty awesome seeing the progression between a garage and what's now a really lovely studio.

[Blocked Image: http://mixnmojo.com/galleries/full/full20070430185611.jpg]

Looks fuckin' brilliant.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/stran ... y-3/726951

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/down- ... y-3/726886

Whole lot o' interview going on here.

Textures look much better.

Is a shame they stuck that music on it though, doesn't really suit the series or action IMO and is getting it a lot of unnecessarily negative comments around the web.

Yeah, it's the smaller things like that which really get you invested in a story. It's like when you watch 24, are you really that bothered about the huge nuclear threat or whatever? Well, yes — but you find yourself totally on the edge of the seat as characters are built up and then killed right in front of you, or kidnapped, or whatever. The human element is something so many games get wrong and I believe Far Cry 2 tried to push that forward, and it seems like Far Cry 3 will do an even better job.

New link to trailer (download).

Really enjoyed that trailer, mostly because it once again highlights that at least one of the villains is one seriously unhinged nutter. I really like the general premise of this game, ie: normal people who're thrown into a nightmare. Looks like the guy's female friend is going to end up being shipped off as a sex slave or something, which is a pretty horrid and compelling motivation rather than the usual 'save the world' bullshit.

Haha, yeah I mean don't get me wrong my girlfriend was a great catch in many ways — she enjoyed spending a whole weekend on God of War or Uncharted just as much as me and we clicked in most ways, but of course 'most' isn't enough for a relationship to last beyond the two years or so it did. I'm not jaded about the whole relationship thing in the slightest, and I believe that when you do find somebody who you just fit together with perfectly it'll enrich your life in every single way. Finding the right person at the right time is something everyone should look forward to!

With that said, when good, long relationships do go downhill it's incredibly draining and almost liberating when you're faced with being single again. I'm enjoying that high for now and feel no pressure whatsoever to 'find the one' as life is good, but I'm sure I'll be wanting someone to cosy up to (for more than one night) before long.

Looks like the trailer is dead until its official release tomorrow.

Yeah I'm fine, things slipped away quite gradually and our desire to put time aside for each other got less and less. After not seeing her for a few weeks and not even really being bothered I realised there wasn't anything left anymore and decided to 'officially' bring things to an end. It's been a fairly gentle break-up really as we both knew it was right and that what we had somehow faded a long time ago.

Just gotta move on, and in all honesty I'm enjoying having complete control of my own time and not having to always consider someone else. Plenty of time for that at a future point in the epic story of my life.

Finished things with my girlfriend a couple of weeks ago so me and my single comrades are going to the pub for quiz night.

Looks like some fairly magnificent Source right there, had to do a double take to make sure it was the right engine I was looking at. And I do remember you.

+1 for the use of grog.

Just watched Time Traveller's Wife... really enjoyed it actually.

I read they almost didn't even include horses because it messed with the flow and exploration of the game. Should I not use them when I play? :derp:

Seems like they looked at Metal Gear Solid which is well known for having the best boss fights in history between long sections of stealth gameplay and figured they'd try to emulate it, even going so far as to outsource the boss battles to a team that specialises in such action — then somehow it all ended up as a complete mess.

Next time they should leave being epic to MGS.

All sounds like symptoms of being WIP to me, though why they'd showcase screenshots with such stuff so visible is beyond me. Naughty Dog has a history of releasing questionable promo media, though; I remember when they first showed that cutscene where Drake meets Marlowe in Uncharted 3 the lighting was horrendous as if the characters were made of wax, whereas in the final game it looked great — and this was a video they used as a major publicity piece.

Metal Gear Solid has been a bit like this too, openly using work that's blatantly unfinished in prominent promotional material. I guess they figure that getting some buzz going about the game is worth some forums of game artists like MapCore looking at it and being all ";/" over it.

Quote from Zyndrome

Not everyone is a fan of desolate areas ... like myself. Hell, I even published a mod that adds trees in and around Whiterun.Deal with it

And currently I am looking into making a mod that makes survival in the Wilderness harder. Bear traps left behind by hunters everywhere, tougher hostile animals, etc. Sure, there are mods like that already but I want it my way.

I think it's all good as long as people understand what they're downloading. As established earlier in the thread, some people want the art direction to be as the game's designers intended — they don't want fans making decisions about which areas should be more lush, which should have a strikingly different look, etc. Then there are those who're totally OK with this.

As long as the makers of HD packs are clear about whether they're been faithful or not it's fine IMO. :derp: