The Last Item You Purchased?

[RetroVortex]

I promised myself I would pick up the two OneUps albums I didn't have when I got paid.

And I got paid last week, so I happily slapped down a tenner and some change for them just now!

(Intergalactic Redux and Intergalactic Continuum. <- I just love the space funkiness thats goin' on! <3)

[Rather Dashing]

Both in Amazon MP3's $5 album sale.

[RetroVortex]

The Cave

£8.00

(20% off at GMG still! Thought I'd take advantage of it! ;D)

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Alcoremortis

Ooh, you'll have to say how it is. I've been thinking of buying it, but I have so little time to play games now that I haven't really gotten around to it.

Well I played a little bit.

+ It's Baldur's Gate 1 + Tales Of The Sword Coast (haven't entered Ulgoth's beard yet so I am not sure of it. The area is available on the map though)
+ I like the new look of the inventory including explanations of the armor rating. And the new texts look really good.
+ The areas look a lot better than in the original / are a little more high res but still: Baldur's Gate 2 looked better
+ They added the Tutorial from Baldur's Gate 2 which is really helpful for new players since the tutorial system in the first game was garbage (but is still intact) (including framerate drops in the tutoriual but I am not sure if they haven't been there always)
+ Cutscenes have been remade. No more lo-fi CGI crap. They look really great.
+ New gameplay: The Black Pits. Seems to be arena-style content but I haven't really touched it yet because I really want to play the main game first.


- No resolution options the game auto-detects it and I really don't like how small everything looks. This game was designed for 640x480 when it was released and it shows.
- The price is way too high --> wait for a sale. For that kind of money you get everything Baldur's Gate on GoG
- There are already 4 DLC packs "not yet to buy" in the main menu.

[coolsome]

http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-light-at-the-end-limited-collector-s-edition-860

[der_ketzer]

I get the impression that you might like the Dr. Who series.

[Alcoremortis]

Originally Posted by der_ketzer

Well I played a little bit.

+ It's Baldur's Gate 1 + Tales Of The Sword Coast (haven't entered Ulgoth's beard yet so I am not sure of it. The area is available on the map though)
+ I like the new look of the inventory including explanations of the armor rating. And the new texts look really good.
+ The areas look a lot better than in the original / are a little more high res but still: Baldur's Gate 2 looked better
+ They added the Tutorial from Baldur's Gate 2 which is really helpful for new players since the tutorial system in the first game was garbage (but is still intact) (including framerate drops in the tutoriual but I am not sure if they haven't been there always)
+ Cutscenes have been remade. No more lo-fi CGI crap. They look really great.
+ New gameplay: The Black Pits. Seems to be arena-style content but I haven't really touched it yet because I really want to play the main game first.


- No resolution options the game auto-detects it and I really don't like how small everything looks. This game was designed for 640x480 when it was released and it shows.
- The price is way too high --> wait for a sale. For that kind of money you get everything Baldur's Gate on GoG
- There are already 4 DLC packs "not yet to buy" in the main menu.

Thanks. From what you've said so far, it seems like the main draw over BGTuTu is the new cutscenes and the new areas.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Alcoremortis

Thanks. From what you've said so far, it seems like the main draw over BGTuTu is the new cutscenes and the new areas.

It's basically that. If you don't mind installing TuTu then use that.
I personally do.

[Darth Marsden]

[Alcoremortis]

Originally Posted by der_ketzer

It's basically that. If you don't mind installing TuTu then use that.
I personally do.

Wait. Can you use TuTu with the Enhanced Edition? That would be like the best of both worlds.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Alcoremortis

Wait. Can you use TuTu with the Enhanced Edition? That would be like the best of both worlds.

I don't think so. But if you are going to use TuTu then get it from GoG. No need to get the Steam Version.


Oh one minor minus is still there:
They kept the experience bonuses for learnig spells, disarming traps & picking locks. But they lowered the amount of XP you gain from that to 1/10th of the value you'd get in BG2. I have no idea if you get that in TuTu too. I think you get the full amount which in the end imbalances the game a lot. Not sure though I only used TuTu once several years ago.

And one minor plus for the Enhanced Edition: You also get the interesting class specialisations that were introduced in Baldur's Gate 2 in the first game --> that also happens if you use TuTu.

So yeah. There is no real advantage over using TuTu with the original games + a widescreen mod. Of course.

[JordyLicht]

Bought the new Bad Religion album, "True North" on vinyl and boy-oh-boy is it awesome.

[puzzlebox]

My initial team consists of the Time Traveller, the Knight, and the Hillbilly. The design effort that must have gone into making each scenario solvable with ANY combination of three characters is kind of mind-bending.

[coolsome]

[Rather Dashing]

Originally Posted by puzzlebox

The design effort that must have gone into making each scenario solvable with ANY combination of three characters is kind of mind-bending.

You'd think, but sadly not. The characters differ mainly in their "special abilities", which are all but useless in the "general puzzle" sections. The game is split into sections that are "general"(solvable with the basic shared abilities of all characters) and "character"(sections you can only access and solve with a characters's special ability). So really, what they did was design a(pretty damn good) adventure game around basic controls(jumping, picking up/dropping items, walking about) and then designed sections for each character's ability. The promise of a Maniac Mansion-style endeavor is never really fulfilled in full.

[puzzlebox]

Originally Posted by Rather Dashing

The game is split into sections that are "general"(solvable with the basic shared abilities of all characters) and "character"(sections you can only access and solve with a characters's special ability). [...] The promise of a Maniac Mansion-style endeavor is never really fulfilled in full.

There was ONE section in the pre-actual-Cave bit that I assumed would be solved differently depending on your team... the part that stood out was a door that I phased through with the Time Traveller also had a console next to it, which I guessed would allow the Scientist to hack it open instead.

Anyway, separate character sections is different to what I was expecting, and perhaps somewhat less awe-inspiring than the complexity of Maniac Mansion, but makes a lot of sense in the context of the story (where The Cave means different things to each character). The replayability factor is very high if the bits of the game you see are largely dependent on the team you choose.

I can't wait to get home this evening and continue.

[Alcoremortis]

The Cave. Jumping on that bandwagon.

[coolsome]

Originally Posted by coolsome

Ok what the hell was I thinking!?

[ted12]

Originally Posted by coolsome

Ok what the hell was I thinking!?

I can't tell you, but I imagine it had something to do with scarves, afros, and potatoes. Just a guess.

[Secret Fawful]

I don't need to play The Cave: The Video Game. I can draw a board, paint it, and then grab all the figures I bought from Double Fine and play it as a tabletop game.