Well, I got options. That's the good way to look at it.

[chiasaur11]

Well, I was planning on let's playing Baldur's Gate as an antagonist from some Dr. Who comics. And an issue of Fantastic Four. And a couple of issues of She-Hulk. And he was hired to kill Galvatron once. And to kill Rodimus Prime another time. And he killed Bumblebee.

Sadly, given that said character has a rather... distinctive... continence. yes? And the copy of Baldur's Gate I borrowed from a friend has a great system allowing users to make the hard moral decisions. It supports custom portraits or a save system, but not both at once.

Yay.

So, that scuttles that plan. It does, however, mean we have options. Which means voting.

And democracy is the lifeblood of (Insert nation of residence here, unless of course said nation is a dictatorship, in which case: you should have switched to democracy earlier. Ace stuff.).

Now, keep in mind a Vetinarian attitude to the votes may be taken.

If you buy me a game on Steam, that's worth like ten votes in the game voting department, by the way.

So, yeah. Votable things.

1) Keep at Baldur's gate, sigh and ignore/edit into the pics the lost portrait feature, and hope no more glitches turn up from the disk scratches.
2) As above, only with a different character
3) As above, only try to find a copy that will work.
4) New option

For four...

Well, four will be different. (All of these will probably be interrupted by taking the computer to the shop, though, so don't get your hopes too high for a quick resolution).

Two subcategories.

Game and narrative. Some games won't support the second option, though. IE, playing Mario as an alcoholic fifty foot T-Rex kinda wouldn't work. That sort of thing will be listed too.

Interesting possibilities will be added to the (initially rudimentary) list.

Games)
Marathon (1 to start. 2 through infinity if it feels reasonable)
Ben There, Dan That! (Free, a good adventure game, and too linear and witty to allow me anything other than a straight "This happens now" playthrough.)
A later X-Com
Minerva: Metastasis (Short, and'll have to wait to start until after aforementioned shop visit)
Galactic Civilizations 2
Other (specify)

Narrative Methods)
As the same character as I'd be doing in Baldur's Gate, in a milleiu more suited to him (presumably)
Continuation of X-Com
Famous historical or fictional personage (specify)
Straight playthrough, with noting of quirks of the game (Won't spot all that much)
Narrative drawn naturally from the game.

Now, I possibly won't do any of the above, but...


Can't hurt to vote.

[Rutskarn]

Hm. Galactic Civilizations could be fun...

[Gralamin]

Hm. Galactic Civilizations could be fun...

Possibly this with the narrative "Continuation of XCOM". We've taken the fight to them now :smallbiggrin:

[psilontech]

Hah. Continuation of X-COM Galactic Civilizations II. Sounds amusing, it has my vote.

[Jibar]

I'd like to see some more Galatic Civilisations II going. I remember reading a guy reviewing it who spent little over a month playing a quick game.

(By the way chiasaur, I had forever attached that kobold avatar to you, so now I'm all confused.)

[Player_Zero]

If you have Baldur's Gate 2 then you could run the mod that let's you play Baldur's Gate with the Baldur's Gate 2 layout and whatnot which is far less bugged. And if you don't have Baldur's Gate 2 then what're you waiting for? That game is great.

[Eldan]

Another vote for Galactic Civ played as a certain X-Com commander who is entirely, surely dead and hasn't espaced with 20 million bucks, heavy weaponry and a space ship to find a planet of aliens who have elected him as their leader.

[Poison_Fish]

Being as we are the two major Marathon fans here, I throw my support for Marathon.

[Fri]

as stated previously, play things like... diablo 2 as teddy roosevelt. Or football manager as charles dickens. things like that.qq

[ZeroNumerous]

Galactic Civilizations II - X-COM Edition.

[Cubey]

I wanted to do a GalCiv II LP, but decided I was too lazy to ensure it finishes.

I'm passing the torch to you! Bring the light of X-Com onto the whole galaxy!

[Erothayce]

I say go Gal Civ two. Even a small universe game eats my life. I still have a gigantic universe, with abundant everything from two months ago I'm still working on.

[Nano]

Gal Civ II would go over really well, I think.

[Optimystik]

There's a baldur's gate mod for NWN, IIRC. That should get you the portraits you want, the BG storyline, and 3.x rules to boot.

[DeathQuaker]

IIRC, the game came equipped with you capable of making and using your own custom portraits (and soundsets. I ran around as Annah from Torment). You shouldn't need any mods or anything else that would conflict with savegames. Double check your in-game Readme to be sure, but I think what you need to do is make two versions of the portrait. One should be a bitmap sized at 38x60 and named FILENAME_s.bmp and the other should be sized 110x170 and named FILENAME_l.bmp . Put the two files in the "portraits" folder. If this isn't working, it's probably a cache issue.

(Again, check your README because I'm not 100% sure this is correct.)

Make sure your game is patched: http://www.bioware.com/games/baldurs_gate/support/patches

If your game is bugged/discs messed up, then I would try to find another copy. It shouldn't be too hard to find. (Maybe this 4-in-1 boxset would be handy if you don't have a copy of BG2 yet: http://www.amazon.com/Baldurs-Gate-4-1-Boxset-PC/dp/B000FGA1US/ref=pd_sim_vg_3/177-8537009-4950600)

[Johnny Blade]

I already made him two portraits that worked with my game. And were at least accepted by his until he tried to save.

So, my take and his was: Scratched disk resulting in a corrupt installation. Not much to be done about it.


Anyway, I'd personally prefer any kind of RPG. Or something that allows for roleplaying more than one character, like X-Com did.
I actually think both Icewind Dale games could be pretty hilarious this way.

[Fri]

Agree. Icewind Dale 2 X-COM STYLE HOO-AH!

[chiasaur11]

So, Gal Civ seems popular so far, as do RPGs.

Marathon has one vote, and continuation of X-Com is fairly popular overall.

Good to know, good to know.

[Artanis]

If I get a vote, it's going to GalCiv 2 as well, even though I loathe the ground combat in that game (as of DA, at any rate).

...come to think of it, the ground combat system would lend itself well to a continuation of the X-Com LP storyline.

[chiasaur11]

If I get a vote, it's going to GalCiv 2 as well, even though I loathe the ground combat in that game (as of DA, at any rate).

...come to think of it, the ground combat system would lend itself well to a continuation of the X-Com LP storyline.

New ground combat?

I only got the central game, no expansions, which leads to two questions.

1) Any reason to buy Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor? Or should I, assuming I get either, just get the newer one?

2) How does the new ground combat work?

[SilentDragoon]

I don't know about Twilight, but the ground combat is the same RNG everybody dies as the original with Dark Avatar. Galactic Civilizations has the bonus element of that some of the random possibilities will write their own humor (One of your diplomats randomly assassinated your ally's minor dignitary! Congratulations, the entire galaxy hates you now! ... or ... All your best planets decide to revolt against your rule and form a pirate alliance with most of the tech in the game! Enjoy!)

[Johnny Blade]

continuation of X-Com
By the way, what would that mean? Another X-Com game, or just something that can be fit into the continuity you started, be it mechanically similar or not?

[chiasaur11]

By the way, what would that mean? Another X-Com game, or just something that can be fit into the continuity you started, be it mechanically similar or not?

Same continuity sequel.

The game option says if the sequel is an X-Com game.

The narrative option says if the plot continues, no matter how narratively awkward.

[Artanis]

New ground combat?

I only got the central game, no expansions, which leads to two questions.

1) Any reason to buy Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor? Or should I, assuming I get either, just get the newer one?

2) How does the new ground combat work?

1) DA adds a lot to the game that makes it better, especially "super abilities", racial traits that give a race a big advantage in one area and really helps diversify them. There's everything from getting free ships at the start of a war ("Super Dominator", which the Drengin have) to putting a speed limit on foreign ships in your territory ("Super Isolationist", the Yor) to being better at diplomacy ("Super Diplomat", the Terrans). I haven't played Twilight of the Arnor, so I can't comment on its quality, but I'd say that the expansion bundle is probably well worth the $30.

2) DA's ground combat is the same as the original's. I meant that I loathed the ground combat in vanilla and DA, but that while I assume it's the same in Twilight of the Arnor, I don't know for a fact whether it is or not.

[Johnny Blade]

Same continuity sequel.

The game option says if the sequel is an X-Com game.

The narrative option says if the plot continues, no matter how narratively awkward.
Well, UFO: Alien Invasion (http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/) takes place in 2084, apparently (http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/Storyline/Final).
You'd have to rewrite some of the storyline, or make it so that the whole PHALANX stuff is a lie, but it would be something.

It may be a bit too similar to the previous Let's Play, so Galactic Civilizations may be better if you want to continue the X-Com story, but that's your call. :smallwink:

(I have, by the way, never played that game for more than half an hour before installing the original X-Com, regardless of the crappy graphics.)

[Fri]

the expansion got a lot new things. Way shinier graphic for starter. The tech trees are also changed to make things more interesting. They fix the AI. More way to ally and wage wars. Things like that. But mostly shinier graphic.

[chiasaur11]

the expansion got a lot new things. Way shinier graphic for starter. The tech trees are also changed to make things more interesting. They fix the AI. More way to ally and wage wars. Things like that. But mostly shinier graphic.

I get it.

But I was wondering if the older expansion was worth getting as well as the newer one. You know, any differences etcetera/

And another question:

If I was to play Marathon, as a break from strategy games, which of the narrative options would be preferred?

[Artanis]

I get it.

But I was wondering if the older expansion was worth getting as well as the newer one. You know, any differences etcetera/

And another question:

If I was to play Marathon, as a break from strategy games, which of the narrative options would be preferred?

Twilight of the Arnor requires both DA and the original, so if you want TotA, you need to get DA. Luckily, there's a bundle pack where you can get both for $30.

[chiasaur11]

Right then.

A go at Marathon, then once that's done (allowing for a short break) Gal Civ 2.

Gentlemen (and/or ladies, as applicable): Start ship design work, if you will.

We want X-Com to have the most insanely intimidating craft available.

[Artanis]

Once I figure out how to upload a ship design, I am totally giving you my design for an early warning and close recon ship.

It looks a lot cooler than it sounds.