f13.net

Sorry I havent been around but I have a big trip I've been prepareing for and tomorrows travel day so I will be nowhere to be found , unless you are in Ferndale Mich., so keep it together and I look forward to being the lowbie when I return.

Bastard.  I mean, have a good trip.

Hey, you'll always be higher level than me!

And me. Although I don't play with anyone here currently.  (current main is in another supergroup)

Ferndale is about five miles south of my apartment.  Cool city.  You going to the electronic music fest in Detroit this weekend?

In a twist of fate that can only come from a Geldonyetich style indecision complex, I've found myself attacked by Thief: Deadly Shadows, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Ultima VII, and Arx Fatalis simultaniously.   I haven't stopped playing City of Heroes, but it'll be difficult to schedule it between my other vices.  

I'll be doing my damnest to make sure this doesn't end up like FFXI.   "Oh crap, I haven't played this game in 2 months.   Hmm, watershell is empty.  Everybody's level 45+ and I'm level 25.  WTF?"

Sidekicking.  Solves a great deal of the problems inherent in that.  Of course, some zones are level restricted.

I got this free with my new video card, and I was having some real problems getting in to it. Is it worth sticking out past the tedium of the first dungeon, or should I uninstall it now?

/derail

Uninstall it. Immediately.

Probably good advice.   I like Arx Fatalis.   But then, I liked Deus Ex 2 and Ultima 9.   It seems that with 20+ years of computer gaming experience under my 220lb belt, I've gone well beyond being a distinguished gaming connoisseur and am now an infamous gaming glutton.

That said, Arx Fatalis averaged a 75% rating (http://www.gametab.com/pc/arx.fatalis/1107/) across the board, mostly from one reviewer that gave it a 60%.   I think it comes down to this: Did you like Ultima Underworld?   If so, then you'll probably get a kick out of Arx Fatalis.    The game picks up a bit when you get to the human settlement.   I haven't gotten too far past that, but any game you can screw up this badly (http://www.it-he.org/arx.htm) can't be all bad.   (Note that prior link being a walkthrough will likely spoil you, or at least give you a very unfair tactic for taking out the last boss.)

I knew you were an old, chubby bloke!  Jolly, too!  Only a jolly, chubby man yells, "SPLENDID!" when someone intimates to him that they've just died in CoH from doing something completely idiotic.  Thanks for the sympathy, by the way.  

Actually, I LOVED Ultima Underworld.  At least at that time.  I've not played Arx Fatalis but I might give it a go... just to see if that sort of game still interests me.  I get spoiled by the technology of games every time I find something 'better'.  Disappointment usually ensues.

Arx Fatalis felt more like this shitty game from a while back. Don't think any of you all remember it. Actually the people here may have bought it and weep with me: Stonekeep.

Arx Fatalis may as well be Ultima Underworld 3.

I don't see much of a comparison to Stonekeep, which wasn't an atrocious game given the time it came out (imo, of course). Stonekeep's rune/glyph spell thing was pretty cool and they did some interesting things with npcs. I felt the worst part was the feeling that it was a real old school 3d adventure, maps drawn on graph paper with no diagonals. But hey, I never finished it, so it couldn't have been so great.

The gesture casting in the pc version of Arx just works. Luckily, you can preload a few spells, because it's nigh impossible to cast in combat...but that's one of the most realistic reasons I've seen to interrupt casters in a video game, because you are actually trying to cast a spell somewhat like a mage would (yes I know they aren't real :P), not just 'hit the spell button and wait to see if you get interrupted'.

The goblins in Arx are some great npcs.

Slightly more on topic, it appears I'll be playing a lot of Thief III, gotta love sidekicking.

I liked the demo of arx fatalis.  If I see it in a bargain bin cheap I will buy it.  It really did feel like Underworld 3.  And I LOVED the underworld games.

The monster graphics were pretty ugly though.

I went for a short while on Saturday but didnt stay long. We got in on thursday evening late and friday night my wifes granddad there died so I basicly spent the weekend helping out with arrangements and whatnot.

My condolences.  Had he been sick?

Yeah it was expected. He had prostate cancer and was in the end stages which is one of the reasons I pushed to get up there. He was in a morphine incuced coma so not much other than looking at him could be done. Thax for the sentiment though. Its sad to loose him but hell he survived the concenttation camps and lived a full life.

Those are great words.