Knights of the Chalice Interview with Pierre Begue
Interview - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Mon 1 March 2010, 22:59:31
Tags: Knights of the Chalice<p style="padding-left: 30px;">5. In contrast to most of today's RPGs you didn't include skills and skill dependent non-combat gameplay. Different skills are typically a prerequisite for alternate quest solutions, the handling of specific situations (diplomatic, combat, stealth etc.) and the like. What's your stance on that?
I am totally in favour of having distinct solutions to quests, but as a designer I prefer to leave it to the player to decide what course of action he would rather take. In other words, I am not in favour of leaving out options to bluff, lie, tell the truth, intimidate, or be diplomatic at any point just because a character lacks points in one skill or another. Now it may well be that you need to perform a skill check to see if the bluff or diplomacy was successful, but you could instead make a check based on one of the character's main abilities (Charisma, Wisdom, etc). So I don't see skills as essential to the system.
Furthermore, in my opinion, it's much more important and interesting for a CRPG to provide a few options with distinct follow-up outcomes, than a lot of options all leading to the same outcome (even if they go through a different skill check).
Read the full interview
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Editorial - posted by DarkUnderlord on Thu 18 February 2010, 12:35:33
Tags: The Year in Review<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Another thing that didn't happen in 2009 was Obsidian's much talked about RPG set in the Aliens universe. Josh Sawyer's run of bad luck heading up projects that get cancelled continued. Rather than being released or even having development continue at a merry pace, it was cancelled in early February... or later in June depending on who you want to believe. Staff were laid-off, assets may have been disposed of and children may have been harmed in the end of production.
2009: The list of things that didn't happen.
Let's Review Dragon Age: Origins! (again)
Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 8 February 2010, 04:05:11
Tags: Dragon Age: Origins
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="postbody">Well, the game finally made it to stores last month, so it is time to talk about it. Since Bioware claims that it is a spiritual successor to <span style="font-style: italic;">Baldur's Gate II</span>, I will make comparisons between the two. While it is a somewhat decent game, I do not think it meets the (admittedly low) standards set by <span style="font-style: italic;">Baldur's Gate II</span>. </span>
There are 27 comments on Let's Review Dragon Age: Origins! (again)
Review - posted by JarlFrank on Sat 6 February 2010, 02:35:41
Tags: VeneticaThe game is very action-focused and has a good story with interesting characters, but the RPG elements are light and the game suffers from a multitude of bugs and performance problems.
Read our review here.
Dragon Age: Choices and Consequences
Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Sat 23 January 2010, 06:35:41
Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age: OriginsRead the rest here.
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Risen – probably the strongest deja-vu you’ll ever experience
Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Sun 13 December 2009, 14:39:33
Tags: Piranha Bytes; Risen[...]
If you join the inquisition, you’ll end up in the monastery, where you’ll need to finish your basic training first. The monastery is also home to some of the most interesting quests in the game. For example, the first test you’ll have to pass, is the test of combat. You’ll need to beat three recruits first, and in the end challenge Master Aric, the combat trainer. You can approach Aric in two ways – if you grasped Risen’s combat really well already, you can try beating him fair and square, but it’s a tough fight. However, if you get beaten once, you can ask the other recruits for advice, and you’ll be able to drastically tip the scales in your favour by getting Aric drunk and replacing his fancy sword with a weak one. Another well done quest is the murder investigation – you’ll feel like in The Name of the Rose, gathering clues about the murder, interrogating witnesses, and eventually pretending to be a weed trader to lure out the murderer, who’ll turn out to be, well… someone you probably didn’t expect.
Read the rest here.
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Codex Good Old Games Short Story Competition
Competition - posted by DarkUnderlord on Tue 25 August 2009, 13:47:22
Thanks to all those who entered. The winners are:
- Speculative fiction set in a future society based around the teachings of Volourn.
- Darth Roxor. For a r00falicious Volournian poem.
- Quilty. While the judges weren't entirely certain of it's relevance to the topic, the visual imagery was hard to pass up.
- Why/How Age of Decadence should be made into an MMORPG. Entrants are encouraged to include hypothetical gameplay examples and prototype screenshots.
- Silellak. How could we pass up the MMOARPG or screenshots accurately typifying the average MMO experience?
- Annie Carlson. Someone else's breadcrumb trail came close but Annie's revolutionary click combat "where whichever opponent is able to click their mouse button the most times is declared the winner" won the day.
- Developing Grimoire: A Day in the Life.
- Elite. A clear judges favourite for conveying Cleve's endless suffering as an intellectually talented developer.
- Seymour. This was difficult as the judges were going for Darth Roxor but his Volournian poem took the prize, leaving Seymour to collect on his entry here.
- DarkUnderlord
- POOPERSCOOPER. Truly, a visual masterpiece.
- Shannow. Ultimately for mentioning Fez, just pipping spacemoose to the prize
- Attack of the 50-foot Multi-Headed Dick.
- Data4. A clear winner in this category for his lovecraftian epic. Though the judges insist he complete his masterwork before collecting his prize...
- Occasionally Fatal. A struggle in this category with many winners considered but OF coming through in the end, possibly because of cigars.
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NWN2: Mysteries of Westgate Review
Review - posted by baby arm on Sun 17 May 2009, 01:58:05
Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate; Ossian StudiosHere's his review.
Ron Gilbert - the DeathSpank Interview
Interview - posted by baby arm on Tue 12 May 2009, 07:10:58
Tags: DeathSpank; Ron GilbertRead on...
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Andhaira finds out about Knights of the Chalice
Interview - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 11 May 2009, 11:32:00
Tags: Knights of the Chalice<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Knights of the Chalice is a traditional 2D RPG where you create a party of heroes and embark on a series of adventures in a fantasy world. The game features tactical turn-based combat, a good AI and user-friendly interface. It is based on the Open Game Content 3.5 from Wizards of the Coast.
If that sounds like something you might be interested in, be sure to read the rest.
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A few words with Michal Kicinski, Co-Founder of CD Projekt
Interview - posted by DarkUnderlord on Wed 29 April 2009, 11:22:45
Tags: CD Projekt; Michal Kicinski; Witcher, The
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Lastly, I'd like to send greetings from the CD Projekt team to the Codex community. There's no denying you are very demanding, but these demands are seldom baseless. Even though we do not post here very actively, we often browse the Codex, trying to draw conclusions from the discussions here and amend our projects if we decide it's needed. Of course, substantial points are the most useful; but reading some hearty bitching and creative invective-hurling is an interesting diversion

Oh I'm sorry, did you want me to quote something more interesting? You'll have to read the interview for that.
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A Long Hard Look at Mount & Blade
Codex Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Tue 21 April 2009, 18:30:48
Tags: Armagan; Mount & Blade; TaleWorlds[...] That leaves you pretty much making your own story up. You'll join a Faction and decide that the Rhodoks will pay for defeating Lord X in battle and so after them you go. You'll gain the support of your Khan and get elected as War Leader. You'll call the other Lords to your aide and you and groups of other War Parties will ride into enemy territory to lay waste to all before them. This is the meat of Mount & Blade and it's quite fun. However your battles will almost always result in victory and with a bit of luck, the Khan may even reward you with a Town, Village or Castle for your efforts.
... and like all rewards in Mount & Blade, they're entirely worthless too.
Read the rest (and there's a lot of it) here...
Interview with Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software
Interview - posted by baby arm on Mon 30 March 2009, 03:54:09
Tags: Jeff Vogel; Spiderweb SoftwareRead all about it here.
There are 9 comments on Interview with Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software
Lingwe talks to some modders about modding
Interview - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 2 March 2009, 02:46:53
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Killap: 2005 was the year I started modding Fallout 2. I honestly don’t recall what truly pushed me to modify the game, but I do remember having a craving to play Fallout 2 again at that time. I remember coming across an unofficial Fallout 2 patch by a modder named Seraph. He had fixed quite a number of bugs in the game and was still actively working on it. It was at this time that I also came across the amazing Nearly Ultimate Fallout 2 Guide by Per Jorner. Not only did this guide list everything that one could possibly do in the game, but it also had quite an extensive list of unfixed bugs. Seeing that these bugs were still not fixed in the unofficial patch by Seraph, I decided to sit down and have a go at it. Programming was something that always interested me and seeing an opportunity to put it to some practical use, I began to create my own unofficial patch. And thus began my quest to make Fallout 2 into the game it should have been from the very beginning.
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">[...]
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span class="postbody">Wesp: I would do it all over again and the result is worth the effort! I have a lot of fun doing the patch and obviously a lot of people have fun using my patch and it keeps a very old game alive or maybe, more fitting, undead wink ! Looking back I would probably have created a basic and plus version right from the start to avoid any of the conflict that arouse because of the patch/mod issue, if I only had known that people had it in the first place.
</span>
There are 10 interviews in all thrown together in one great big article for those of you who may wonder what it's like to mod your favourite game. From the Fallouts and Infinity Engine games to Neverwinter Nights, ToEE, Bloodlines and Oblivion. In order of appearance:
- <span class="postbody">killap - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.killap.net/" target="_blank">Unofficial Fallout 2 Patch[/url] </span>
- <span class="postbody">Quarn - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5296" target="_blank">Unofficial Oblivion Patch[/url] and <a class="postlink" href="http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3808" target="_blank">Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch[/url] </span>
- <span class="postbody">Agetian</span><span class="postbody"> - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.co8.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=35" target="_blank">Circle of Eight[/url] </span>
- <span class="postbody">Shiningted</span><span class="postbody"> - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.co8.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=35" target="_blank">Circle of Eight[/url] </span>
- <span class="postbody">Gaear - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.co8.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=35" target="_blank">Circle of Eight[/url]
</span> - <span class="postbody">Vaernus - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.witchermod.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=20" target="_blank">Deception[/url] </span>
- <span class="postbody">Camdawg - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2fixpack/" target="_blank">BG2 Fixpack[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2tweaks/index.php" target="_blank">BG2 Tweak Pack[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gibberlings3.net/cleric/index.php" target="_blank">Divine Remix[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gibberlings3.net/daletweak/index.php" target="_blank">Icewind Dale Tweak Pack[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gibberlings3.net/iwd2tweak/" target="_blank">Icewind Dale 2 Tweak Pack[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gibberlings3.net/pst/" target="_blank">Planescape: Torment Tweak Pack[/url] </span>
- <span class="postbody">theacefes - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gibberlings3.net/auren/" target="_blank">Auren Aseph NPC[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gibberlings3.net/sarah/" target="_blank">Sarah NPC[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?showtopic=12947" target="_blank">Banana NPC[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://forums.chosenofmystra.net/index.php?board=80.0" target="_blank">Skooter NPC[/url] </span>
- <span class="postbody">Wesp - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.patches-scrolls.de/vampire_bloodlines.php3" target="_blank">Unofficial Vampire Bloodlines Patch[/url] </span>
- <span class="postbody">Adam Miller - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.adamandjamie.com/mod/nwn_downloads.aspx" target="_blank">Neverwinter Nights Downloads[/url], <a class="postlink" href="http://www.adamandjamie.com/mod/dw_downloads.aspx" target="_blank">Neverwinter Nights 2 Downloads[/url]</span>
There are 0 comments on Lingwe talks to some modders about modding
Editorial - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 19 January 2009, 10:28:40
Tags: The Year in ReviewIn 2004 Bethesda Softworks decided that what the world of Tamriel needed was guns. Only they couldn't bring themselves to just add guns in and call it a day. Oh no, instead they decided they needed another name for it... so they bought the Fallout 3 license. D-Day arrived on the 28th October, 2008. After years of speculation and false starts, ITZ had finally happened. That of which we dared not dream had finally been born... Fallout 3. Sure, it may have been born as the bastard son of Oblivion but it was born none-the-less.
Review - posted by baby arm on Thu 1 January 2009, 23:21:45
Tags: Hinterland; Tilted MillRead on...
Darth Roxor reviews NWN2: Storm of Zehir
Review - posted by DarkUnderlord on Mon 29 December 2008, 03:08:32
Tags: Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir; Obsidian EntertainmentRead on...
There are 11 comments on Darth Roxor reviews NWN2: Storm of Zehir
Review - posted by baby arm on Sat 20 December 2008, 23:06:55
Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Fallout 3; Gareth DaviesReview - posted by baby arm on Mon 15 December 2008, 01:48:38
Tags: BioWare; Mass EffectRead on...
Information - posted by Elwro on Thu 11 December 2008, 10:02:32
Tags: Bethesda Softworks; Fallout 3