My access point uses WPA2 security, and the 3DS couldn't see it -- I had to manually enter its SSID, then it worked OK.

>??

A friend of mine and I have noticed that a bulk of the 20-something gamers (and there's a schload of you out there) seem to have a specific sense of what they like in a game. Much of that sense was formed from being "raised" on the NES, Sega Genesis, PSOne, and N64. Because of that, they tend to really dig Japanese or "Eastern" game design, and often find "Western" game design to be "old fashioned".

Because of that focus, it seems like reviews pick on things that we, the Commodore 64/Amiga/PC/original Xbox crowd like in our games. We are sometimes called "western gamers".

So, we threw up (not literally...) a new GS forum just for cranky old gamers like us: The Western Gamer's Haven. Drop by any time and complain like the old, cynical, cranky people we are.

(yeah, I know this is pretty freakin' spammy, aplogies for that -- to add insult to injury, I'm cross posting this on the 360 board, too...)

Mike

Yeah, I am getting a new computer in a couple weeks. Any recommendations on some RPGs on a new computer? bringer_ofdeath

I definitely recommend either Mass Effect (sci-fi) or The Witcher (swords & sorcery). If you get The Witcher, be sure either to buy the Enhance Edition, or if you buy the standard edition download and install the free Enhanced Edition patch! Great game.

Mike

I don't think Jade Empire was as epic as KOTOR but it's still a great game.

RK-Mara

Agreed -- not as epic, but so refreshing to have a non-fantasy, non-sci-fi rpg...

Last year there was mention of Jade Empire 2 being in the works, but it's been January since we've heard any news, and even then it was just a rumor...

Mike

Cheers for the screens -- it actually looks very much the same as it did on mine, though the anti-aliasing around the character sprites makes a big difference!

You think $50? Seems like PC game top-end retail has been creeping down to $40-ish, but I guess other big titles (Spore) are still near $50.

If you liked Mass Effect and KOTOR, then try Jade Empire -- I really liked it. It's a little more "actiony" than KOTOR, but I felt it was every bit as well done.

Mike

@Arronaxxx: Mass Effect is not an RPG? Wha??? Sure it is! It's definitely NOT a shooter, and NOT an adventure game. It borrows mechanics from those, but it most definitely has a lot of RPG in its blood.

RPGs that will run on older hardware:

"Standard" RPGs: Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment, Divine Divinity

"Action" RPGs: Sacred, Titan Quest (barely an RPG, but I thought it was fun)

If Knights of The Old Republic ran OK on your box, then try Jade Empire as well -- very well done game by the same people.

Mike

So I just played the Sacred 2 demo, and it is... well... what it is -- a pretty straight-forward action RPG.

It looks and plays very much like Silverfall. I liked Silverfall, but with all of the long walking around and backtracking that it required along with the general tedium of excessive random monster encounters, I burned out on it less than 1/3rd of the way through it.

I played the first Sacred through to the end, though, and liked it.

Graphics: I had to play at pretty low-res, and I had to turn off Antialiasing, which the game needs. The characters are quite pixelated without AA. I'd love to see it on a higher-end system. (FWIW -- I'm running on Vista with a 2.4GHz Pentium D with an ATI Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB graphics card.) Still, the animation is all very well done, including wild animals, enemies, rag doll death behavior, etc.

Audio: Lots of voice-acting, which is nice, but it's not exactly terrific voice acting, which is a little bit yuck at times. Still, points for the heavy voice over use. Music is OK, not stellar so far.

RPG character development elements: Hard to tell thus far -- it looks very detailed, with a deep combat skill tree, defensive skill tree, magic skill tree, etc. There's not much of a tutorial, so I'm still unsure how it all works.

RPG NPCs: So far are the standard action RPG fare. They give you a 1 paragraph quest, you carry it out, get gold. Non-quest NPCs say a few generic things (again, though, it is done with full recorded voice, which is nice.) Not sure yet if you can have others in your party.

RPG story: No story emerged in the demo -- it felt like the game intro was going to tell a story, but it suddenly ends and you're playing with this odd, distant voice continuing to talk, but it's pretty disjointed. Likely will be more cohesive in the final game.

Combat: Enemy AI is pretty horrid right now. Some baddies will stand motionless 5 steps from you while you fight someone else. Some enemies will stand 10 paces away and swing their sword at the air. Most enemies generically charge and slash, making combat thus far mostly a clickfest. We'll see if any real combat strategy emerges, but I'm not holding my breath.

Overall: Good, not great. I'm sure I'll buy it, as it'll likely be in the $30 range when it hits (unlike mediocre Xbox and PS titles that are $60 regardless!).

Mike

With this game, your expectations need to be accurate going in:

1) If you're a fantasy RPG player and are expecting Oblivion / The Witcher / Gothic 3, then you might be disappointed. It's very "realistic" (no magic, no orcs, elves, no 'health potions'). It's questing and NPC interaction are not fantasy in nature, but very realistic (no "go kill rats for me" or "fetch this key and I'll give you a rare ring" -- more like "solve this dispute" or "deliver this message" or "go siege this castle").

2) If you're a strategy/tactical RPG player, then you may love this game. It is VERY tactical, not a "hack and slash" game at all.

Me, I'm a fantasy RPGer, and not really a tactical guy with large scale battles. Thus, I didn't bond with it. Still thought it was well done, just not for me.

Mike

i finished ep. 2 a while back. im dying to play episode two. i played a bit of it on the 360. i want to play the whole game though. and half life 2 worked fine on the reccommended res. but, in episode two i had to lower it. so im guessing episode 2 is hopeless for me until i get a better graphics card?thundersex

You mean Episode 3 (which is "coming" but gawd knows when)? I don't think the requirements have changed rediculously, but yeah, it sounds like you need a boost!