GOG.com is open!

[Flak Beard]

Wow, this looks like a great service. I'm really tempted to snag the Earthworm Jim pack and the Fallout games. My backlog is just so crazy right now though.

Are the $5.99 games just introductory prices, or will they stay at this rate?

[Funk, E]

Fallout isn't D&D based.

I'll accept that your opinion is just different than mine, I guess. I don't feel like the game's punishing me, I just feel like it wants me to try and play by its rules, I suppose. I never had a problem with being unable to access certain things in the Fallout universe--it just seemed to me to be the natural way of things. Of course, I've also played lots of MUDs and ASCII dungeoncrawls, so maybe a bit of unforgiving nature in an RPG appeals to me in some way. It sounds like you were weaned on JRPGs or new-agey RPGs, which have evolved a lot from the older style evidenced by Fallout, colored more by Ultima and, say, Nethack than console games.

[Mozgus]

Fallout isn't D&D based.

Ok, it's based on whatever the hell D&D is based on. I really don't care. Someone who's giving a genre an honest chance has a much clearer opinion than someone who's got a bias from spending so much of their life on them.

[Funk, E]

Hey, just making sure your information is clear. Fallout's got roots in pen-and-paper RPGs, sure, but it's not D&D based, and that's an important distinction, gameplay mechanice-wise.

[Mozgus]

Hey, just making sure your information is clear. Fallout's got roots in pen-and-paper RPGs, sure, but it's not D&D based, and that's an important distinction, gameplay mechanice-wise.

Any game that has Charisma points is a game I just file under "D&D bullshit". I just dont care to study up on the history of the role playing engines. But at least these kinds of games have actual PLAYING of ROLES, unlike anything that ever came from Japan. I'll give them that.

[Flak Beard]

So can anyone here comment on Earthworm Jim for PC? Is it any good, or should one stick with a console port?

[Funk, E]

But at least these kinds of games have actual PLAYING of ROLES, unlike anything that ever came from Japan. I'll give them that.

Amen, brother.

[Mozgus]

Arg. Explain this one Funk.

I'm imprisoned in the military base by the big mutants. If I lockpick the door, I'm seen no matter what. He kills me on sight, or he takes me to the leader again, who then kills me on sight. What the hell do I do now!?

Everyone on GOG and GameFAQs say all you can do is load an old save. Like I said, fucking crap design. You CAN'T just do whatever you want in this game. There ARE dead-ends.

So that's that. 15 hours wasted.

[Funk, E]

Huh. Honestly not sure, there. Fallout's got its share of quirks in the design, and is a bit more frustrating than its sequel. I actually dig and have more experience with Fallout 2, minus the beginning "dungeon" which is boring as HELL. That said, you DID get imprisoned by giant mutants. Were you expecting wine and roses?

[Mozgus]

Huh. Honestly not sure, there. Fallout's got its share of quirks in the design, and is a bit more frustrating than its sequel. I actually dig and have more experience with Fallout 2, minus the beginning "dungeon" which is boring as HELL. That said, you DID get imprisoned by giant mutants. Were you expecting wine and roses?

Dont try to turn it around on me. There's a very fucking important rule of RPGs that you DO NOT BREAK. It's called the Point of No Return. The rule is that you do not allow saving past this point, unless it's the end section of the game, and even then, it's a stupid thing to do. If getting captured is a point of no return, then it should have a bad ending FMV right then and there.

For example, my biggest complaint about Final Fantasy 8 was how it had such a point so completely overlooked in disc 3 of 4. It boiled down to one tiny conversation with Seifer. Once you had that little chat, you had no way to ever even visit anywhere in the world again. The game didn't even drop a hint or anything. Horrible idea. This is what happens when the developers lose focus and stop considering the player's desires. That's the quickest way to make a shit game.

Anyways, I assumed, this being such a supposedly amazing, limitless game, there would be a means of escape from any situation. You're supposed to be crafty! You're supposed to have free will in these games; the total opposite of Japanese RPGs. Why couldn't there be a vent duct to discover with my perception stat and escape by? Why couldn't there be means to convince the prisoner on the other side of the wall to cause a distraction (via your charisma stat) while you sneak past the guard's back after lockpicking the door? You see what I just did there? I'm a videogame developer already! Jesus, this is easy.