You mention there being no “tiers” of weapons, like the classic game’s linear progression from melee to bullet to laser to plasma. That’s true. Fallout 3 wants you to have fun, and will support whatever specialization your heart desires. A player who wants an Energy Weapons character is just as accepted as a player…

I think you’ve nailed the difference in tone.

I once heard The Lost World described as “Spielberg phoning it in is still more technically proficient than most directors’ genuine best efforts.”

I think it counts, since the castle grounds on the outside were explicitly created to give players a safe, calm place to learn & practice the controls before setting out into the dangers of the proper levels. The castle halls themselves also fit the gameplay rhythm of “a moment’s respite before heading back into the…

I also stick up for Fallout 3 whenever I can. As you say, the characters and writing are lackluster. But the environmental design - from the landscape of the world map down to the details of each individual ruin - is fantastic.

I never found Vault 11 in my time playing New Vegas, but it sounds like a fantastic example of the environmental storytelling that this series does so well. There’s something so compelling about poking around a ruin, taking in the details to piece together how this happened. The series can be frequently campy or…

The image is from the prologue, before you get to the station.

I still remember playing the Diablo demo as a child. It started out paused, with a text prompt explaining the controls and backstory. The Tristram theme made me really reluctant to close the introduction, unpause the game, and get on with it; I was so anxious about whatever impending doom this music implied was coming.

Good call on the safehouses in GTA V; I always liked checking out all the little details and seeing how they would change over time as the story developed. When the mercenaries held Michael’s family hostage and you were in a shootout in your own home, it felt like a violation.

Fun fact: That guy is named “Unlucky Bastard” in the credits, and is played by one of the writers making a cameo. That scene is explicitly the filmmakers having a laugh.

Well, realistically, if a person is going to die in one of these movies, it’ll be because they were killed by a dinosaur, not something as anticlimactic as, “They fell down.” I get where you’re coming from, though. Sure, Eddie’s death fits the tone of that part of the story - with the heroes at their lowest, having…

Character creation systems are nice when they can provide a variety of different playstyles, but this specific application of them, as a “Choose Your Own Difficulty” slider, is one I’ve had a lot of fun with in the past. I remember turning CON all the way down to 1 in Fallout 3 and New Vegas whenever I wanted a…

I am excited to hear your thoughts on revisiting the series, especially since it’s a childhood classic for me that I lack the means to replay. I have always enjoyed replaying old video games, contrasting the reality of a playthrough in the present with the myth of the years-old history I contain in my memories. But…

Indeed I do not. I’ve had it recommended to me online a time or two, but I’ve never tried learning GURPS, mostly because I have a much easier time reading from a paper book than I do from a screen on a PDF. And with no-one to borrow books from, it remains a blind spot in my understanding of RPGs, and I keep building…

Are you talking about Cure spells? Because you’re still stuck needing a Leader class in 4E if you don’t want the game to be warped around your party’s lack of healing.

On the one hand, 4E’s “Healing Surges” system works a lot like those martial powers do: as an abstract measurement of your physical condition. Outside of combat, a character gets a chance to catch their breath and center themselves and they’re good to go, but keep pushing yourself so hard and you’ll eventually hit the…

Fifth Edition definitely seems like it kept the things I liked about 4E and cut the things I disliked. I should take a more serious look at it sometime.

Ah, that brings back memories of the PS2 WWE games. So many nights spent breaking out the multitap and making each other laugh during Fatal Four-Way or Royal Rumble shenanigans.

My brother’s been working on a Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition campaign he wants to run this year, and has asked me for feedback since, being in a different province and all, I’m not going to be one of the players in it and thus can’t have the experience ruined by knowing its plot structure ahead of time.

The FFX english voice actors were in a rough spot. The character models’ speaking animations had been created to match the japanese script. Due to technical limitations or a lack of foresight, they were set in stone, and couldn’t be changed. So the typical recording session was a lot of examples of “Fit these words…