Rightfully so. I'm also interested how Dungeon Siege 3 will pan out, I loved DS1 and DS2 a little less but still it was great.

I'd like it a little more if it *felt* like a PC game firstly. While I love the game, most of my nitpicks stem from the aspects of the game like save management and interface that feel like they were designed for a console, not a game that is primarily interested in being a PC game first and foremost. In this regard, it feels sort of like CDP is talking out of both sides of their faces. In some ways, it feels like we got a console port, ahead of the actual console version.

Hmm, interesting that you feel that way. Though I respectfully disagree with you! I agree with saying that the inventory system could be improved upon. It also struck me as odd how the save system works. My save folder is 4.2 gigs!

But these things are small and to me they don't scream console port at all. To me what makes a console port is the 'technology on a leash' feel. Where many aspects of the game are noticeably held back due to restraints on GPU and CPU power. Be they texture size, poly count or what have you. Take a game like Dragon Age 2 (ugh!) Many details, including some NPC's look like they were literally ripped out of the N64 era. Little things like poor environment details to help squeeze every frame a console game developer can get; that says consolation to me. Part of the problem is that this generation of consoles has already outstayed their welcome by two years holding further graphical development back. That and the damnable DirectX API, but these are different rants all together lol

I like how some dialogue choices lead to your instant death. Haha!

Well, Im happy to jabber about what constitutes a console port as much as anything else here, so no worries. Certainly kneecapped gfx are one part of a console port, but so is an interface that seems designed around a paucity of input buttons, or clumsily using a control stick to select something rather than one that takes full advantage of the PC platforms utterly superior potential for instant gratification interface, and precision control.

Save management, loot gathering, inventory management are all examples that dont feel particularly "PC" to me. They have a console design vibe to them, and I definitely get the impression that the game was designed with consoles in mind, which for me, is one of the fastest ways to mar an otherwise wonderful PC game.

However, none of these aspects really annoy me to point of diminishing the overall game experience for me, which has been great for the most part. Certainly not to the degree that some other people have fixated on these issues as somehow "ruining" the game. And we weren't supposed to be griping in this thread. But while Im happy the PC saw the first release of the game, I only really feel TW2 is a "PC game", in that it currently is only released on the PC. It really feels more like any other multiplatform game where the PC version design often takes a back seat to accommodate the weaknesses of the other, more lucrative platforms, that simply hasnt released its console version yet.

Its a great game though, PC or otherwise.

This is probably the only time I would agree with the developers when they use the term "Streamlined". For me, it's more streamlined than being "consolised" or dumbed down.
For the first time ever the word "Streamlined" actually makes sense.

I actually really dislike a number of the interface features - the way the mouse moves around menu options feels clunky and doesn't seem to relate to the game play camera movement at all (which is mostly just jarring, rather than problematic). The way the game divides up button presses between WASD and arrow keys, plus both enter and space being used for different "accept" functions bugs me too.

These all feel like they are ill thought-out because the interface looks like it works for a mouse but almost (despite bad keyboard choices) functions more like a console system. Examples specifically being crafting/shop menus, alchemy, and talking. I've found myself actually missing the response I wanted in timed speech sequences because the mouse function wasn't fast enough (despite being fine in-game) and I pressed WASD or enter keys instead of arrows and space...

Or is there some set of options I'm missing here that would completely fix all this?


WWWWWITH THAT SAID, I still stick by my previous statement that this game's world and characters have been masterfully crafted with believability and immersion beyond any other game!

Ditto! lol

While I tend to agree on the way console development has limited many of the games I love, there are some great things that have come out of the console development focus.

For example, the streamlining of controls. Remember the HL2 days? You'd be running along shooting, and want to throw a grenade. You'd have to scroll all the way to the end of the weapons list, select a grenade, throw it, and scroll all the way back. I think developers having to simplify controls for console FPS's is the reason we get a 'throw grenade' button. Just as an example of the benefits 'dumbing down' can have.

Something else I think is great is it's forced developers to squeeze every polygon out of a graphics card and make their engines as efficient as possible. Back in the good ol' days, there was no need for devs to spend so much time and money because there'd always be a new graphics card out six months later. Graphics cards used to be outdated in six months. My old nVidia 8800 lasted four years. Until it died a few months ago, I could still run most new games on full settings, even though graphics technology has advanced considerably. Crysis and StarCraft 2 were the only games (I can think of right now) that I had to lower the settings. Great looking games like Arkham Asylum and Mass Effect 2 ran beautifully, and it's because of all the effort the devs spent on getting it to look that good on the XBox first.

And, as much as it hurts to admit, consoles are the cash cows of the games industry. If it wasn't for the consoles, most devs probably wouldn't have the resources to create games with such (arguably) high production values like Modern Warfare 2, Assassins Creed 2, GTA4, or any other you'd care to name. Hiring sound engineers and cinematographers and all those people who make all that other shiny stuff we've come to take for granted must be incredibly expensive. I'm not saying those things make a great game, but without them, games don't get sold. For example, I think if a small studio who couldn't afford such a huge marketing campaign made Dragon Age: Origins with the same dated graphics and repetitive level design, it likely would've flopped. There are always a few exceptions, but if publishers and developers could get away with not paying for those things and still make money, they would.

The XBox is a product, and PC gaming is a hobby (and Mac gaming is for the senseless). Enthusiasts have always had to deal with the interference of the casual participants. We had a good run, but now we share the headaches of every other hobbyist.

this game will set a new standard for other RPGs. No longer can other developers relies on "streamline" method for the games.

After this, user will demand NPCs to have move around, the game world to be lively. They wont be happy seeing the main character "acting alone" in this game.

The story is intriguing, blurred with good and bad, provoke thoughts. No longer gamers play a senseless evil killers. They will have walk a thin line between good or better, bad or worse.

For me, I personally love to see my character walking on "thin ice".

The quest description shows labor. No longer user accept a short line concluding a quest but a short story.

I take it you've not discovered the wonderful PC invention of the "hotkey"?

Sorry to nitpick, but scrolling through weapons in a pc shooter? Please. Thats such a console move.

The reason you'd select grenades first in HL2 is because I believe there were context sensitive actions to be done with them, different throws depending on button bush. And Im pretty sure there was a "Use grenade" function that could be mapped to a key in the deeper recesses of supported source engine commands.

/nitpick

You scrolled only if it is something a few scrolls away, otherwise you use 1-5 buttons for selection... come on...

i really really love the art in this game. its just fucking stunning. the detail on the characters are second to none. i love when it rains, everyone reacts. and i also loved walking through a tunnel in flotsam where the local pub goes were loitering, where only an hour a ago it was empty.

I really like the Dandylion-esque quest write-ups. Only complaint is when they're poorly written (e.g. 'Mystic Quest')