Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
Oblivion is now available on Steam for less than £10 or $15. They may do one of their deals adding the whole package which includes Oblivion, Shivering Isles and The Knights of the Nine, to promote it's addition, so I'd wait a while to see. Here's some videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2EaR7awT9I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pccyx9cdU6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCxVoyiSVFI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUExueUU2Jc
Regards
Whiterabbit
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
I've just rechecked the deal and it already contains all three packages for the price quoted. That is an outstanding bargain (I paid that amount just for the Knights of the Nine mod pack. Wow what a bargain).
Hey, Whabbit, thanks for the heads up! Any idea if this is standard price or a special deal? I've just spent my last few pounds on Bioshock so Oblivion will have to wait a week or two.
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
Hi BentlyTCow,
It's the normal price, so you can stand easy and buy it at your leisure. The price really is amazing. You can buy The complete Elder Scrolls III and IV package for about twice the price I quote above. These games are well supported by the modding community and there are well over 100Gb of free downloadable content for both games, much ofit really cool. If you have a reasonable computer there’s even a graphics enhancement package that adds bump mapping to give textures such as caves, and stone buildings much more depth.
If you want any advice about Oblivion feel free to ask in this thread. I'm only too happy to help. I can even talk you through the first stage of the game, where you have to escape the imperial cities dungeons - which in my opinion was the least interesting part of the game; though it does enable you to kit yourself out with a basic set of armor and equip you with blades and a bow as well as give you some idea about using your magic abilities. You can pass through the first part that takes you out into the world of Tamriel in around 15 minutes if you know what your doing. I've played the initial stage several times, so know to try and kill the rats with my bow stealthily. (this gets you x2 kill points), so usually the low level goblins and rats are killed with the first arrow. But if they spot you it's a little more difficult to kill them; though when you're at level one most enemies are quite easy to kill in hand to hand combat.
There's an excellent mod that adds perks similar to Fallout 3, which can further enhance your character.
I still can't believe it's so cheap. :)
Regards
Whiterabbit
p.s.
Bioshock is a gorgeously crafted game, though after playing the demo, when it was first released in 2007, I wasn't too keen as I was still heavily into FPS war games, so didn't bother buying it till the price came down to less than half price. Now that Bioshock 2 is to be released late this year, (I think), it should drop even further. I bet they will have an offer on Steam sometime.
The boy and arrow are my weapons of choice rabbit. I use those almost always as I have such a high sneaking ability, most shots kill on the first one. Indeed this is an excellent deal.
midori
Member
I like that, wizzard... "high sneaking ability." :b
Wrabbit, I noticed several package deals available (though I shall have to wait for quite a bit), but there was Oblivion alone, Oblivion with Morrowind, etc., and Oblivion with Morrowind, etc. plus 9 DLSs? (I take it mods?) for a few dollars more. When it gets right down to it, is Oblivion THE game to have? Wouldn't want to take extras just because they were available with it, as am usually penny-pinching. I wonder if pennies mind being pinched so often. At least they know they're not dreaming. *&:-D
Honestly midori, you'd be very hard pressed to find a better deal. You can find the Morrowind deal cheaper elsewhere, but the Oblivion Game of the Year is a steal at that price. I just paid almost that for the Shivering Isle's expansion.
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
I paid that just for the mod package last year. I'd go for Oblivion, Shivering Isles and the Knight of the Nine package. Morrowind is also a great game, but you really don't need it if you go for Oblivion; unless you think you'll have time for both. I don't, though I still occassionaly pop into Morrowind.
WR
If you play no other games in your collection midori, the entire Half-Life series and Oblivion are the two that you should devote some playing time to. Just my opinion though. I don't know what else you may have. =p
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
I agree with you Wizzard, though I'd add Battlefield 2 to the list (despite being over a year older than Oblivion) - they recently released a new patch for BF2 that includes a new map.
WR
Thanks for checking on that for me, WR! Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I was away for the weekend and definitely can't afford it now!! :) But it's on my list of games to buy. Thanks again!
-Duane.
p.s. going with the user created content, there's tons of fan maps for all 3 Thief games Including a complete fan-made expansion (free!) for Thief II. If you like first person sneakers then try Thief I or Thief II but skip Thief III unless you really like I/II or hated I/II. Oh, there's higher resolution texture packs for those as well at http://www.ttlg.com plus stuff for other Looking Glass Studio games (Deus Ex, Thief, Arx Fatalis, System Shock, etc)
p.p.s avoid the download purchases of the thief games because they don't play nice with the texture packs and fan missions.
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
Hi BentlyTCow,
I've been meaning to purchase the Thief series for ages. Almost got one of the earlier thief games (I think it was Thief II) last year when I still had some hit points left from my founders club membership at fileplanet), but ended up getting the second Empire Earth RTS game instead as it used up exactly what I had left whereas Thief II would have left around 100 hit points which were unusable. Wish I'd have gone for thief II though because I bought the last Empire Earth Game - Empire Earth III shortly after, though I’ve not got around to playing it ever yet. (I got it as a package deal with several other games and never quite got around to playing it, lol). Why would you recommend not buying Thief III unless you really like the first two.
Maybe Steam will acquire the right to sell it and have a great promotion with all three for a great price, lol. I keep pre ordering games only to find a few months later they are being offered on Steam for a weekend only at half the price. I pre-ordered Empire: Total War last year and took delivery when it was released. I stupidly decided not to buy the Special Forces version, which at the time I thought was excessively expensive at around £10 more than the normal version. There were only 8 (I think) extra units added. After playing the game I regretted it even more, so purchased the Special Forces version this last weekend when the half price offer was on (I’m still so taken with Steam). They have now brought out a DLC package adding another 14 elite forces (for £1.99). I’m hooked on the game at the moment, but will be taking delivery of Anno 1404 tomorrow (and Fuel), so will probably get distracted from my campaign, lol. Next week is the Fallout 3 DLC and the second Call of Juarez, which from the pre-release video’s looks awesome. I loved the first game so can’t wait to clip on my spurs and load up my Winchester and ride out of town, lol
Oh yeah, before I forget, I'd also add one more game to the list above. Bethesda's latest project which I've already mentioned above called Fallout 3. I racked up nearly 400 hours of play in the first three weeks of that game, which is really unusual for me these days simply becasue of the amount of games I buy. What an amazing game it is; which is similar to Oblivion, except that the world you explore is a post apocalyptic one instead of a medieval fantasy one. It's not as colorful as Oblivion, with the predominant color being several shades of grey. Though the sky, especially at sunrise and sunset is nearly as gorgeous as in Oblivion; (to the uninitiated, both game do have a realistic day and night cycle, though speeded up, so maybe an hours play sees you work through a day in the Oblivion/Fallout 3 world) It was released back in Nov 2008 and already has loads of free mod’s to it's credit, and if you have the X-Box version you can download three DLC packages for Fallout 3, two of which are to be released for the PC version at the end of next week - I can't wait for those; though I reckon they will be trying to screw the PC fraternity for more cash in a couple of months when the third expansion has been ported over to the PC.
Regards
Whiterabbit
Thief I/II were both made on the 'Dark Engine', designed specifically for the Thief universe. Thief III was made on an altered Unreal engine and programmed for console gaming at the same time as PC, so there are limitations. (In fact if you look in the ini files there's lots of XBox coding.) It's really a different animal and not in a good way. It's not a bad game, but if you've played and loved the first two the third can be a jolting experience. When it first came out I was thrilled. The company that made the originals had gone under and I never expected a third to be made, so when I saw it released I went right out and got it, and spent an extra $130 on a video card to meet the steep system specs. (needed pixel shader 1.5 I believe) That's how much I loved the first two. But it felt so different that I couldn't bring myself to play it at first. Movement was awkward and jumpy in comparison. Some people say they 'dumbed it down' for the console market, even as far as changing the name to appear as more of a stand-alone game instead of the third in a series. It's still a very entertaining game, with one of the most creepy levels I've ever played in a video game, but it just feels unpolished compared with the first two. At least they kept the voice actors the same, which are excellent! Again, it's not a bad game, it's just a bit of a let-down. I'm playing it again now, and I've gotten used to it's foibles and am enjoying it again (got the scary level coming up soon!) but it's not quite the same. I suppose the biggest thing is the movement in III feels odd. In I/II you could peek around corners to check on guards and in III you can still do that, kind of, but it's more like a sidestep over and a sidestep back - which often moves you completely into the light. So much for stealth! Another thing, when you sneak up behind a guard to blackjack him, you have to be almost touching him. And if he hears a noise, you have to wait till he calms down again because the blackjack is ineffective against a person who's heard a noise! Another thing is Thief III was designed as a third-person game, which the first two weren't. You can still play in first, but it's not perfect. They seem to encourage killing more in III than in the first two, where it's almost taboo. Maybe that's just a personal feeling I get from the game..
I would recommend playing in order if you like to follow a story line, as it does stretch over all 3 games, though tenuously in the third (again!) As of writing this you can get all 3 in a bundle on ebay for £13 and free shipping. Or each individually for £3, £2, and £4 respectively. There's an extended edition of the first game called Thief Gold but is very hard to come by. It has 3 extra levels and some other stuff, I forget what. But if you want to use the higher resolution stuff and games made by the fans you'll need the disk editions as they won't work with the download versions - which I didn't know when replacing my lost disks! These are the only games I've bought twice!
So after trashing Thief III for the last 300 odd words I will say it's still a great game, once you get past the quirks. This time I've also been playing III with a high res texture pack and something called 'the minimalist age' which fixes *some* of the clunkiness and makes the HUD more like the first two and have definitely enjoyed it more this time around. If anyone does decide to get it and needs help getting stuff set up and running I'll be happy to help, now that I've given it my best sales pitch :)
-Duane.
p.s. if you're into graphics and killing first and foremost, skip it, you won't be pleased. If you're tired of running and shooting everything in sight and don't mind outdated graphics, try out the demos at least! The first game has a tutorial level (if I remember correctly) on movement and sounds alerting guards - different flooring and lighting, etc.
Thief I - 44MB:
http://download.cnet.com/Thief-The-Dark-Project-demo/3000-7563_4-10025220.html
Thief II - 130MB:
http://download.cnet.com/Thief-II-The-Metal-Age-demo/3000-7563_4-10037972.html
Thief III - 426MB:
http://download.cnet.com/Thief-Deadly-Shadows-demo/3000-7492_4-10293097.html
p.p.s. Eidos Montreal are working on a fourth! Where's my wallet...
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
Thanks for the info Duane; I love to hear other community users impressions of games they love. £13 sounds like a brilliant deal. Pity about the change of developer. Hopefully if Eidos listens to the Thief community maybe the next version will take into account the feelings of the masses.
Something simiar happened with the Battlefield franchise, though not through a change of developer. Battlefield 2142 was a great disappointment to many in the BF community. Considering I played Battlefield 2 virtually every day to the exclusion of most of my other games - I was involved with the community- map testing and admining a BF2 site called Mercenaries as well as helping out on a couple more battlefield sites. (I'm still catching up on many of the games I bought over that period), I've only played Battlefield 2142 several times. In fact at the moment I'm unable to play it becasue I can't remember the password/name combo that I used to open up the game). The actual controls weren't altered, just the futuristic aspect of the last game as well as some dumbed down graphics. Despite BF2142 being released 2 year after BF2, the graphics in places were appalling, for example some of the unusable ground vehicles looked like they had been designed by a child. the skins were appalling and the limitation on the number of maps for singleplayer (there were only four released and they were really small). The Battlefield community did create several SP maps for it and increased the size of the four that were available to the 64 player size (as opposed to the 16 player size). EA/DICE never released the singleplayer map editor though, so maps that the mod community created had to rely upon the navmeshes thatw were existant for the four SP maps. The whole thing was a big mess to be honest. Now Battlefield 1943 is to be released in the not too distant future and there's no single player component at all: which really sucks because I much prefer playing such games singleplayer.
I've already got Thief II demo as I downladed it when I was undecided about it and Empire Earth II. :) Thanks for the links though. By the way, I do hope you'll join us in the Half Life 2 - Deathmatch that I've announced on Steam for the 4th July. It's set for 10.30pm GMT, and will be running for at least 12 hours. If enough giveaway members join I intend setting the game up as a team deathmatch as I think it's much more fun having people on your side as opposed to killing everything in sight. :)
regards
Stephen
Hey rabbit would you mind setting up another L4D for Saturday at the same time, I think it was 9 pm GMT. I will definitely be there this weekend and will be ready to slaughter some zombies. Maybe I should play the game first though, since buying it I've not had a chance to play it at all. Perhaps I'll give a run through tomorrow.
I'll see if I can make it, I haven't had much luck with the last few attempts and I'm not sure what my Saturday will be like. But I'll keep it in mind till then!
Level size was another problem with Thief III. In II the levels were absolutely huge, one level called Life of the Party is commonly mentioned. In III they're much smaller with loading zones between some sections. Not a big deal, but they do feel much more cramped if you stop and think about it. Eidos Montreal seems to be very active in the user forums, asking what everyone liked about the first two and what they hated about III. I do hope they change the name before they buy any advertising as it's currently called Thi4f! http://www.thi4f.com - link to the very active forums.
Catching up on games is one reason I buy so few.. I don't get a lot of time to play so I have to choose carefully. That and I'm constantly broke. When I finish III I'll be moving on to Bioshock, and then probably Oblivion, though I'd like to finish Morrowind. No idea if that'll happen - I don't know where my disk is! I should get to Oblivion by 2012 :)
-Duane.
I know how you feel Duane, I have so many games that I have rarely gotten to even play since joining rabbit's little project here. I have an addiction like rabbit too. I see a good game and I have to play it, even though I know I may not sink my teeth into it for awhile. c'est la vie.
Yeah, it has to be something really special for me to plunk down some cash for it. Plus my mind tends to wander and things go untouched for months on end if I'm not careful. I have thousands of vacation photos I want to organise and kind of got overwhelmed and abandoned them for a the time being. Maybe after I finish Thief III...
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
Thanks for the forum link; please do try and join us, even if it's only for one map (I'm setting the map cycles to between 30 to 40 minutes depending on what everyone wants. the more the merrier. As for the Left 4 Dead game, no problems setting one up this weekend. (I'll announce it on the Steam pages as well. We may be able to get OMGZombie to join us and there's at least one other Giveawayoftheday member who has L4D.
What time do you want the server to start? I'm quite open to suggestions up to around 3am GMT, though I'd prefer it to be earlier if possible as I'm still trying to move my body clock back from Eastern time to GMT. Because I no longer work, it's been really hard re adjusting back to the UK time zone, with me staying up till around 6am most mornings then sleeping till the afternoon.
I wish I had the resolve not to order so many games. Most of the ones I buy are rarely played and never completed apart from the odd one (most of the Men of Honor series apart from the last one, Mirrors Edge, Conflict Desert Storm 1 & 2, Conflict Vietnam, Vietcong and its expansion Fistalpha - that's about it) apart from doing an initial install and checking them out. My biggest blunder recently was paying full price for the recently released Damnation on the basis of the pre launch videos; (though I think getting the Second Sight game for free for pre-ordering it helped to ease the disappointment at the game being a flop).
My best most recent releases/purchases have been:
Left 4 Dead - though I've hardly played with it since I went on my vacation in mid May. (not had the time, lol)
Empire: Total War (I'm just about to reinstall Medieval: Total War as I hardly played that title and never even installed the expansion (which I actually bought before the main game, lol). I bouhgt it when it was first released back in March, but only started playing it this weekend when the special offer was on. As mentioned elsewhere, ended up buying it again just to get the special forces and then a cheap DLC yesterday, that adds more elite units (though whether I'll ever see them is another matter as I have to get through the US campaign before they start appearing. I've only got to mission 3 which is to capture Quebec, but am having difficulty landing my on land. (Damned French navy, lol)
Prototype - I highly recommend this game if you like something a little different with lots of action in it. It reminds me of Dark Sector a little, but is miles better. I love the fact that you can just go off from the missions you are given and wander around New York (just the Island part, but that covers a lot of ground). I tried to cross a bridge, but only got half way when I hit the games boundaries, though you can see across the bay and the Statue of liberty. The interface has been melded together brilliantly.
Arma II - I haven't played this much yet, but only had it for 6 days. Amazing graphics, lots of realism and game play so far has been excellent. (Only done the boot camp part so far though, lol)
Plants & Zombies - one of the best arcade games I've bought this year. It's so funny, has several modes and is one of those games you can't put down once you've started it, every level introduces new item to use against the onslaught of the zombies of which there are a multitude of types. There's also plenty of little surprises cropping up as you progress through the levels (I nearly didn't buy this game after seeing video of the first few levels; thought it looked boring and poorly made, but I was dead wrong, lol). My son has already completed the campaign mode once, though I'm lagging far behind. I had to restart from the beginning recently after formatting my main computer.
Defense Grid: The Awakening: - This is the game that introduced me to Steam - it's got a lot to answer for, lol. Great tower defense game.
World of Goo - okay not one of this years releases, but it only just missed being a 2009 release. A brilliant indie arcade game which I first got wind of via the IGF awards early in 2008. Tried the freeware version called Tower of Goo and was hooked. I applied to beta test the game and was accepted, so got to see the whole of the first chapter well before it was released.
which leads me onto a seconf IGF award winner:
Crayon Physics - another brilliant indie arcade game that Phil introduced via a comment in the giveaway comments section. The freeware version only has the basics, but it was enough for me to pre order it as soon as they opened up the lines. Never been disappointed with this game. Every time I replay a level I try a different solution, so has masses of replayability, plus it's fun. :)
Obulis - perhaps one of the hardest arcade games I've bought in a long time (thanks to Sukibabe), still its a superb puzzler - gorgeous crisp graphics and great puzzles. (I've been stuck on aparticular level for months and am about to pull my hair out, lol
Fallout 3 - another that was released near the end of 2008, which I played for nearly 400 hours in the first three weeks. More than Brilliant. together with Oblivion and Battlefield 2, this is in my top 5 favorite games ever. I intend restarting it just as soon as I can download the soon to be released DLC (a week Friday). It plays the same as Oblivion, with a few additions such as the perks system. (though some clever modder has been able to code a perks system for Oblivion, which works really well).
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity - officially the game hasn't been released yet, but if you pre-order the game you get to download the pre release beta that has all 80 levels opened up to play (as opposed to only 8 in the Alpha release that I posted several weeks ago), as well as all the extras that go with it (not included in the alpha). When i came across the alpha release, which you can get via the game synopsis I was really hooked. It's similar to the game wizzard posted the other day where you jump into a cave and have to avoid hitting the rocky outcrops, though AaaaAaaa has much better graphics. This is one I'm really impressed with and would put it in the same league as Gish. Excellent game.
There's a few more, but they aren't actually new releases, but I only bought them recently via Steam. I'd certainly recommend tall of the above games to anyone with an eye for something different, with lots of action, the ability to roam in some of them, and gorgeous graphics, as well as excellent game play.
I've played the beta of crayon physics, those are great fun. And I like the free-roaming aspect of games, too. I used to marvel at what could be done in Ultima VII (part 2!) Those free-will, zero consequences games are always fun. I've been hoping for a demo for Prototype since your post a few weeks ago. As far as half-life goes, if the servers are on all day (BST) I should be able to sneak in for a map or two and die several hundred times :)
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru
Hey you won’t die so many times I promise. We’re mostly new to the game as well. Just follow three simple rules and you'll probably do well;
1) Keep moving; don't stop in one place for more than a few seconds, otherwise some sneaky opponent will waste you. It's much harder to hit a moving target (though it does make it harder to shoot your opponents as well).
2) Always try for a head shot as that usually gives an instant kill. IF all else fails use the rocket launcher, lol.
3) Use the right weapon for the right job. For example use the shot gun for close quarters, it'll hit even if you're not pointing directly at your opponent. The Magnum pistol is deadly accurate even at distance, so try to pick that up as often as possible. It only comes with limited ammo, so use your shots wisely. Use the booby trap bombs. You can set them up in some great places. I've got loads of kills using those. I'll add more tips later. Anyone else care to add some tips for surviving in a FPS game please do add them in this thread Need to write some Emails. :)
Once you find a small community of players to play online with it can be fantastic fun. I was put off playing for a long time after playing with total strangers, so was also very reluctant to start playing. It was thanks to Wizzard for coming up with the idea of having a giveaway group that got me playing again, plus the fact that I knew some of the players through writing in the forums. You can generally judge a character by the flavor of their posts, and I knew I'd feel comfortable with the guys (and gals) that played the first time we had a server set up (by wizzard). Deadgiveaway another regular on these forums (though goes under a different name in game and on these forums) had never played online (I think), and absolutely loved it. I've played with her for around 20 hours since the group was first set up late April/early May.
If you want some practice before the server starts on the 4th I'd be happy to start up a server just to give you some idea about what the game is like. I'll even let you practice killing me, lol. The deathmatch maps are really good, especially for free. There’s around 10 with a great variety, from indoor to outdoor scenarios.
The first time I saw the maps I was really impressed. Just give me some times you'd be able to play. I'm available virtually 24/7 :)
Regards
Whiterabbit
That's very kind of you to offer, I have no idea when I'd be able to take you up on it. I've played around with the game in my own little one person server game. I love the gravity gun, I kept throwing stuff in the air to see if I could hit myself with it. It's not as easy as it sounds! I've played some FPS, though mostly on XBox. (HL:2 and Halo, nothing online) Beyond that it was Duke Nukem and Quake demos (apparently I've always been too cheap to buy full games :) and, of course, the Thief games. I don't know if it'd be worth it, just for me, as my gaming time is limited anyway. Maybe you could set up a novice day, for people who are unfamiliar but curious, to facilitate getting used to the controls and so forth; like a Half Life Open House. I would probably be able to join in on that for a bit. Maybe you could post here to see who might be interested in a Novice Night, and what time's best? I'm usually available after about 8pm BST. Thanks again for the offer! Let me know what you think about Novice Night.
-Duane.
Honestly Bently, we really try to maintain a laid back friendly atmosphere during the games. We don't go full out on each other and we don't care who kills who and how many kills the other person has. It was for these reasons that I wanted a group that was first and foremost forum members. It's less competitive when you're friends and respect each other. Just ask g@rgoyle. When she first joined, she hadn't played online at all. She's made it to every game since then and is having a blast. We promote fun instead of winning. =)
I can tell! Hopefully I can make it next time.. I've had bad luck on our previous attempts! Server difficulties, etc, and I haven't had been available on the more recent nights. But I'll have to wait till nearer the 4th to make sure nothing's been planned for me.
Hey guys, I just had a look at the Steam group and you're starting the HL2 thing a lot later than I expected, so I should definitely be able to join you for a little while at least! For some reason I had it in my head that it was going to be an afternoon thing.. dunno! But anyway, barring any unforeseen occurrences, I'll be there!
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