I heard a quote once I think is suitable for this thread;

"Perception is reality, sharing is optional".

I have some evidence that Christian beliefs are false; The Bible.

That's right. Open up the bible and read it. Find the part where some guy is talking about how Jesus was supposed to come back to life before all of his disciples died. Then they claimed it was going to take a few generations, and then 1000AD came around and everyone thought it would happen then. When it didn't suddenly it was Y2K, and now it's 2012. But it was supposed to happen 2000 years ago and that much there is in the bible word for word.

I have actually read the bible because I was raised catholic and went to catholic school when I was young. They forced us to memorize all this stuff.

And of course then you have the holy relics which the vatican claims were all looted and destroyed over time, but that's only partially true. Many people have claimed to have thorns from the "crown of thorns" which were all fake, but that isn't really too important. What is truly important is that there is an isolated christian faction in ethiopia that has the "Ark of the Covenant" which claims to contain the staff of moses and the stone tablets of the 10 commandments. There are claims that the ancient kingdom of solomon used this box they claimed to have been given to them by God to kill their enemies similar to how an atomic bomb would today. The point is that the isolated priests in ethiopia refuse to let anyone see the Ark and no tests to prove anything have ever been done. Regardless of what anyone wants to say about it there have been tests done on many other non-christian relics in many different countries and they have all been proven scientifically to be fake, so with that in mind I think the Ark is fake and thus I believe christianity is a lie.

There is also no proof that "Jesus Christ" actually ever existed. If rome predicted it's downfall then they could have manipulated the masses and fabricated the whole thing to play off both sides and retain political power and popular support. Who can say for sure? Nothing is certain, but that is kind of the point. A theory is not true until it is proven, and christianity has no proof of anything besides their words and talk is cheap.

That's all I have to say about it.

EA likes to rip people off. If Bethesda started charging for their tools, packaging 20 DLC gear packages for between $10 and $20 dollars each, and started publishing terrible games that very few people want to play, then they might have something in common. But Bethesda appreciates it's community. They listened when people said there were things they liked about the old and the new, and mixed them both together in Skyrim. EA doesn't listen to anybody. And EA is a publisher as previously mentioned, Bethesda is not. As also previously mentioned, Bethesda didn't start that lawsuit, their lawyers did.

So what? It's probably more about identity than it is about the word "scrolls". If blahblahcrunchypants decided to use "Bubble Scrolls" instead of just "Scrolls" then the identity might have been more clearly defined apart from "Elder Scrolls" but that is not the case. Live and learn.

It would take a lot of evil vindictive immoral things for me to start comparing anyone to EA.

In case you are not yet aware, EA is an acronym for Evil Aliens. Now you know. You're welcome.

[QUOTE="almasdeathchild"]sinces cod 4 the graphics have not changed not even in mw3 it's a jokecraigofadown

Wut.

That's what I was thinking.

• Turn Based Strategy (singleplayer)
• Survival Horror (Silent Hill, Resident Evil, etc)
• Single Player RPG (Branch these games out into other genres like Mass Effect does with FPS and Final Fantasy Tactics does with TBS)
• ????
• I dunno.

What we need more of is developers that don't suck. Maybe going to the cheap college on TV is a bad idea.

• CS:GO -- I just want to set people on fire. Is that too much to ask? Apparently not. firefirefirefirefirefire
• Guild Wars 2 -- Initially I wasn't impressed until I watched a video or two, then I was. This game is going places and I want to be there when it happens.
• ????
• Profit. If ever there was a game called Profit, no doubt it would be mass pwnage.

Well, uh ... what sort of games are we talking about here? Talking about the obvious isn't going to be exactly helpful. FPS you learn by doing for example. If we're talking about MMO PvP games then people might want to know tips about how to organize things for faster use. It also might be worth mentioning that whatever makes you execute actions faster than your opponent is worth doing, like not wearing capes in UO or turning your graphics down just to squeeze out a few more FPS. This was explained to me when I first started PvP in an MMO. Animations and fancy graphics are generally the enemy. Especially if you are "new" enough to be playing a PvP game on a laptop, which from what I read on the internet seems to be quite a few people lately.

I wanted to use that title instead of "Is PC Gaming dying?" because I don't think it's dying.

FPS is alive and well on the PC but probably only because of the Mouse and Keyboard. I love playing Counter Strike Source on pub clan servers and Valve has done a good job catering to a large community that carries mixed expectations for CS:GO but personally I think it will have a good release.

But I started out on consoles. When I was little I would go to the store with grandma and hang out at the magazine section while she went shopping. Reading the mags, I saw distinctive games that weren't on the console and had nothing in common with them, specifically Master of Orion. A picture of that game was on the back cover and I would drool over it for a good 10 minutes wondering what it would be like to play games that just weren't anything like the games being released on my console systems. In short it seemed like the PC was going in an entirely different direction.

So there are sports games on the PC, FPS games and RTS games. These genres do well and MMORPGs have been doing okay until recently because most people are getting bored, but MMORPGs are not specific to the PC. Grinding is probably more entertaining on a controller (EQOA--PS2) but PvP is probably more entertaining with a keyboard to map out your skills (Guild Wars, WoW, AO, etc--PC).

So that's why I think that PC gaming is not dying. But to be more specific I think the number of capable developers are shrinking. Blizzard, Valve, EA (hisss), Arena Net, and maybe 4 or 5 Indie developers from South Korea. I can't wait for CS:GO or GW2 but I don't get that same thrill as I did looking at the back of the magazine staring at a completely fresh concept like MoO or other early games that were classics.

Those games brought me to the PC, the sandbox nature forced me to focus in on it subjectively and when I got my first PC it was hard to pull away. I still play FPS games and PvP MMOs but that focus I had before is gone. I'm holding on to my PC for like 2 games and that's it? Lately I've been thinking of going back to my PS2 to play the horde of classics that can't be found on the PC. Lately I've been considering saving money for a modern console. I'm not tied down by my keyboard and mouse because consoles have USB ports and hardware companies sell keyboards like the one I used when I was playing EQOA on the PS2 many years ago. It's like that focus I once had that brought me to the PC has turned and I am being pulled back in the opposite direction. CounterStrike and Guild Wars are great franchise games but ... yeah. CounterStrike may not be replaceable but I can find MMOs anywhere I can plug in my internet to--which these days is pretty much everything.

So anyway, my question and the focus of the discussion in this thread would be -- Where is PC Gaming going? EA is repeatedly dropping the ball, Blizzard is great but I don't like RTS or cartoon MMOs like WoW because I'm not 13 anymore (I'm 27), and like I said, I like FPS but I also liked FPS on my PS2 once I figured out how to use the USB ports on the back and consoles have a lot more developers than the PC does.

But keep in mind, I don't think CounterStrike and Guild Wars are going to last forever. Maybe 10 years from now, I don't think the keyboard and mouse argument will be viable enough to keep people at the PC. It's not much of an argument presently and eventually it won't be an argument at all. The difference has to be created in software development and while it may be entertaining to troll out your buddies about how much faster your CPU is, eventually people are going to just save themselves $800 dollars and buy a console instead of spending more than a grand on fresh hardware every other year. There are more important things to spend your entire tax return on.

So ... Yeah. Discussion shall commence henceforth.

I don't want to call this a rant because I see it as more of a clarification and I will try to keep it short, then you can reply with your thoughts or trolls as you like. If you don't feel like reading my wall of text then just scroll down to the last paragraph and I will sum up everything manageably.

Every now and then I will read an article about how retail PC gaming development is hurting and games are not getting as much sales as they were. But then the journalist will talk about FPS Games and MMOs, such as World of Warcraft and Half Life 2, being very successful and having sold money copies or earned many subscriptions.

Well I have a theory about why those games are being successful compared to other games journalists talk about such as most anything released by EA these days. The bottom line is that FPS games are just WASD + Mouse Click point and shoot so it's really not that difficult to screw up the development. Model some guns, slap on a texture, code up the engine for some sort of hitbox script that measures damage per bullet and you got yourself an FPS game. MMO games are quite similar. Casual MMO Gamers love to grind because it gives them something to do with their friends that they make a clan or guild with, i.e. "It's time to slay the dragon" as that old commercial put it. Hardcore MMO Gamers such as those who PvP on guild wars enjoy the competition and as long as you patch what these kind of people desire then they will keep coming back and the only way to mess that up would probably be to not patch or release what they asked for which is easily avoidable if you are paying attention to the big forums that gamers hang out on like gamespot/gamefaqs or steam.

So if MMO games and FPS games are getting sales and/or subscriptions to rake in the millions of dollars as if they were a movie cast out of hollywood, then why aren't these other games not selling as well also? Well the most obvious thing that is already covered in detail by journalists on the internet is that surveys have been taken from many sources including Valve's Steam stating that most people just don't have the hardware to support the annually increasing requirements of modern games today. CounterStrike Source, World of Warcraft and Guild Wars all have enough requirements to look good enough not to look stupid while being low enough not to alienate any potential customers that keep developers developing. That probably has a lot to do with it.

But I have an alternative theory. A lot of people love the Fallout series but many people admit that the first 2 games of that series were better than the last 2 even though the first 2 were top down in classic 2d isometric graphics, but I don't think the graphics and requirements have anything to do with it. I think that is just a cop out. I believe that most people enjoyed the first 2 fallout games more because the story was better, the gaming was more interesting and when the developers took the leap into 3D, a lot more time was spent on things that didn't ever actually matter much to anyone but themselves. No one wants to play an ugly game but a game without a story is not much of a game at all. I think most people just prefer not to crash or deal with bugs but beyond that I think some people would even purchase old school cult games even today regardless to how much the hardware has advanced since then, such as all the people addicted to minecraft even though the graphics are OGL and the textures are not that great. Ask people what their favorite RPG Games are and most people will mention old games like KOTOR1 and KOTOR2 even after all these other modern games have been released, and some will still go back to their old favorites even today if they can manage their modern hardware to run the dated game engine.

In short, I think games like WoW and Guild Wars do good because the developers and publishers successfully cater to their base customers and what they want to buy, but meanwhile companies like EA and Bioware have made a tradition out of distancing themselves from their customers while quoting themselves in articles about how superior they are to everybody else when everybody knows that is not true. My favorite game ever is the VTM rpg because it actually had a story worth paying attention to, it wasn't full of all this massive hype so when I did manage to get around to playing it after I bought it then I was very surprised to play such a superior RPG. Meanwhile the most recent big title RPG game released was Dragon Age 2 which most people agree was a joke that lacked any amusement.

>>> I understand that game development and publishing is a business but I get the feeling sometimes that developers and publishers only got into this business to make money. If that is true then maybe you should take a hint from Warren Buffett and get into Stocks or maybe sell some Guns & Ammo to conservatives because that doesn't require much creativity. I think certain PC gaming genres would sell better if they weren't being developed by amateurs... Making money is important but it shouldn't be the only reason to be a developer or publisher of modern gaming. It should at least be as equally important to actually enjoy making games for people to play, just as an artist enjoys painting and drawing to see the expression and emotions of those who enjoy looking at their works of art. Meanwhile publication is being rushed, maps and textures are being regurgitated and cloned, english speaking voice actors are horrible all across the board with the exception of a couple females and the few times a publisher manages to grab a famous actor from hollywood ... and so on. If I really felt like wasting my money I would get rid of my phone and go back to morse code or paper cups. I think Blizzard and Valve are successful because of their good business logic but also I believe they do well in this business because they seem to actually enjoy creating video games. If developers aren't doing well then they should stop looking for a scapegoat and instead ask themselves what they could be doing better that they are not doing presently.

Maybe I'll get lucky and some important game developer person will read my wall of text but I won't get my hopes up. Oh well, time to go play some CSS.

I wanted to give 3 examples of what I consider my favorite scripted RPG scenes from PC RPG Games. Maybe you can think of others and reply below?

Neverwinter Nights 2; one of my favorite scripted RPG scenes was the trial when you played as a lawyer and had to gather evidence then prosecute in court. I thought that was really cool. It was more involved than just picking A or B. I replayed that game a couple times just to go through that scene again.

TES Morrowind; another one of my favorites was building up strongholds. The scripts are very simple and based on triggers for Stronghold_1, Stronghold_2 and Stronghold_3 for each level built. But you had tasks between, each level had some resources to gather and the Telvanni Mushroom Strongholds were some of my favorite buildings of all time. It was also very easy to expand these strongholds by just adding the triggers onto your own custom buildings in the toolset so even a child could mod out the strongholds very easily. Once you knew what you were doing it was almost like art getting everything to match, look right and feel right. The 3rd Morrowind expansion had another stronghold and I really liked that one too, but not as much as the Telvanni Mushroom stronghold.

Dragon Age Origins; I really liked the wedding near the end of the game because your chosen expression and choices really affected not just the outcome but the attitude of NPC characters and one or more of your companions. It didn't just change the end of the game but the present attitude and emotion of everyone around you just like if you would have sucker punched a cop in the face in real life. I'm also a sucker for romantic conflict drama so that probably has something to do with it also.

What are some of your favorite scripted rpg scenes on the PC?

Edit; No ports like FF7.