Holy Gadgeteer Marksman Batman!

Can you talk more about the combat?  Sounded a little wonky, just clicking, pausing, timing a click, watching your guy do stuff, click, etc....  Then again the IGN gentleman seemed to think it was great.

 

Is there/will there be a demo?  I'm not getting anything like this sight unseen.

There is a demo (http://www.gamingtrend.com/forums/index.php/topic,23083.0.html), but it's not a good representation of the full game because it features only a couple of maps and a natural capacity to bring you only to the 4th level.  I played it, got turned off, entered the beta, got turned back on.

I'm going ahead with this one.  I noted 2 others who seem like they're on board (Ceekay, Farscry).  Anyone else?

Would love to hook up online and explore the group play.  Didn't have much of a chance in the Beta.

A couple days into the beta and, not just the parallels, but the identities between it and Diablo 2 are blowing my mind.  Most of the mobs are EXACTLY the same: the imps with their rezzing shamen, the big hulking furry things that move and die slowly, the Hollowed (lol), the zombies, bosses that send out randomly radiating electritcity/poison/fire bolts, etc....  Clearly the character development is expanded over D2, but so much of the rest of the game really seems like a new pseudo 3D skin over the old classic.

More than that though, you can spec out with this online..thingy.

http://hellgate.ingame.de/skilltree/blademaster/?lang=en

Should answer most of your questions I'd think.

Yeah, although the trees are a bit outdated, I think, this calculator should give you the basic skinny.  Forgot about this one.

Are there lots of skills in HG:London?  Are there skill trees like in Mythos?  If so, can you focus on just being really good at a few things, or generalize?

I am really, really letting my love for Mythos effect my judgement on London, even though I STILL haven't gotten the demo to download correctly.

Unfortunately, the demo is weak and won't answer many of your questions.

The skills are all in one main "tree" for each class, but individual branches abound as well as solitary skills with no prior skill dependencies (just level reqs).  In addition, each skill has ranks that you can climb.  Mythos has the 3 Trees but not a lot of variety within each tree.  Hellgate packs a variety of playstyles into just one tree.  So, less skills, but similar spread in the tactical possibility space.

You can definitely focus on a few things and be really good at them.  You can also spread your points around and become a generalist of sorts, but as in most rpgs, I don't see this as being the most effective strategy.  That said, there are some "must haves" for each class and a few "just one point in that is essential but enough" kinds of scenarios.

I get the feeling from playing with the classes and checking out different builds and such, that there are clearly different areas to focus on for solo play vs. group play vs. PvP.  The fact that there is no facility for "re-specing" could make this problematic for someone looking to explore all aspects of the gameplay/content without significant time investment.  ("Yeah, Bob, I just got my 3rd Blademaster to 50 for PvP", e.g.)

FWIW, Eurogamer gave it a 70%.  Find the review here:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=86156

I think I'll wait a bit on this one until more reactions start rolling in.  Not sure how compelling the combat sounds.

Mirrors and hosts listed Here:

http://www.crysisdemo.com/download.htm

Created a summoner today and tried it out; talk about easy mode.  I have up to four fire elementals runnng around at one time now with the hive gun I picked up nothing lasts long.

yeah, tonight I tried a summoner as well.  I think I see some nerfs coming done the line....

I would think some more balancing is coming, as it is right now with my Engineer (LVL 11) I rarely have to participate in any of the battles 

Or perhaps they'll just go with the Titan Quest model of letting the "Normal" setting be an easy plow through and then ratcheting up the challenge for subsequent difficulty levels.

Sword of the Stars, perhaps?

Would love to give this a whirl.  Thanks in advance if i make it.

When you hit later Epic, you will experience serious problems with just one mastery.  Since you are a Ranger (great class), you have access to one of the most overpowered pre-Typhon (one 'o') skills in the game which are the wolf pets in the nature tree.  If you max them out then get skill bonuses, you can get to the point where you can summon 3 at a time.  Having the wolves tank for you allows you to sit back and use your bow skills with relative impunity.  And hunters can really dish out the damage.

Pets tend to lose their power by the time you get to Hades, but you can always respec or learn to use them in a different way.   Don't forget Heart of Oak (sic?) as well.  Maxxed, it will effectively double the hitpoints of both you and your pets.

Picked up a copy at a local Gamestop in NYC at lunch today.

In other words, it's out.

Can someone please buy this game for me?    I blew my $ on NHL 2K7 (360) which the system promptly scratched and Marvel UA for PS3 (which is quite fun).  It's been some time since a baseball game called out to me -- I just wish it had called sooner.

--Hotfreak (former GoneGolder and current GT lurker)

How is the actual combat?  Does it compare favorably with Homeworld? 

So I dl-ed the demo.  (Sorry to the previous poster but i wasn't able to find a quick site).  I ran through the first few tutorials missions then launched a skirmish map against an 'easy' opponent.  Within a few minutes of encountering the enemy, he had AT guns, flamethrowers, armored flamethrowing vehicles, etc., and I was being assaulted on all fronts.  I hadn't even had a chance to upgrade any of my existing units.  Not only that but it was chaos with all of my units everywhere being attacked at once.  I had no time to react.  I found myself getting incredibly tense and irritable.  I had no clue how to respond.  There were NO bottlenecks on the map to fortify.  It seemed like no matter what I did, my game was inevitably going to devolve into a fire-stamping dance.  Is that what CoH is supposed to be like, contorting one's fingers to click everywhere on the map at once and try to counter the opponent?  React, react, react?  Or am I approaching this all wrong?

The game looks great and runs extremely well maxxed out on my system.  I was in love with it during the tutorials because there was so much streamlining in the interface and immersion etc.  I just couldn't believe the pace of it when I started skirmishing.  I read somewhere in this thread that if one liked the demo, one would like the final product.  Is the opposite true, or will I get used to it, figure out how to manage it or what-have-you?

I'm probably going to pick this one up today, but I was wondering if anyone had any comments on the difficulty.  These games get boring fast if they are too easy (e.g. Dark Alliance 2).

Anyone else find the horses awkward to control?  Besides using a different control scheme from the avatar, their turn speeds are incredibly slow.  I find myself running most places because it feels faster and more fluid.  Plus I can get right into combat if something or someone jumps me.

Tangentially, how do you heal your horse if it gets caught in the middle of an altercation?

Is there anything you can do to increase carrying capacity other than boosting your strength?  

My character (wood elf) is very "non-strength-oriented" and I'd prefer to spend time on skills that boost Agi, Int, Wis at level up time.  However, I'm finding that I can't carry more than 2% of the items I loot -- or so it feels.  In dungeons, I'm encumbered by the 2nd room.  It really cuts down on the fun of dungeon-crawling.  150 carrying capacity does not go a long way.  

I love pack-ratting in these kinds of game, but I don't want to have to play a high-strength character to do it.

I was wondering if anyone can give some impressions of the combat.  Combat was one of the things I liked least about Morrowind.  It felt clunky and far too simple.  Gothic 2's combat was a little better but still quite awkward.

If combat has been made smoother and a bit more profound, I might go ahead and pick this sucker up.

Late to the game.  Where can i find these previews now?  I did a site search but only came up with press releases and videos.

Thanks in advance.

HF

You can also set up inventory hotkeys that remember what you have equiped and will swap between outfits.

How do you do that?  and also, how do you switch (with keys) between your current weapons (e.g. bow, icebolt, lesser heal) that you have equipped?  What am I missing?  

Admittedly, I've put in very little effort to find this out so far.

Edit:

NM, figured it out.  Here's a thread on it:
http://www.forumplanet.com/planetdungeonsiege/topic.asp?fid=6193&tid=1717641

Sorry for the negativity, but I thought Jade Empire stank.

Even on the hardest setting, the combat was incredibly easy without any real chance of dying unless i left the room for a spell (i.e. a period of time).  As a result, there was no tension or drama in it for me.  The storytelling mechanic is a complete rehash of the KoTOR games and is getting really stale.  It's clunky and long-winded. (In case you think I'm against story and dialogue in games, keep in mind that Planescape: Torment is one of my all time faves).  Although the combat is real-time, it's very slow compared to the Dark Alliance games.

The first Dark Alliance game provided some challenge and novelty.  But DAII is also ridiculously easy and devolves into rhythmic attack button mashing.  The saddest part about it is that there is very little tactical variety in the combat.  

Fable I found fun for a while and sometimes challenging.  After the first 5-6 hours, tho, I had no inclination to play it ever again.

What else is there for the Xbox? *sigh*

Planescape:Torment


My first Refugee post!