theta-soul

I prefer 2d always. Lets the artist's ability show through much more easily than 3d, which takes an entire team and many times longer to produce a cohesive art style across all models and is, in the end, only compared to Crysis. Game in op looks cool, reminds me of http://hackslashloot.com/

Only time my PCs haven't POST is if the motherboard/processor is totally fried (I know you don't wanna hear that) or if a primary connection is on incorrectly. After you rewired everything did you make sure all your cards, memory chips and cables were secured on both ends? If you set your processor and heat sink yourself, double check to make sure nothing shook loose. If you've done everything you can sounds like you just gotta swap parts out til you find the problem like you were planning

Bump. It's on sale until January 5 for $30. BUY IT NOW!

I know the thread's a week old, but I thought I'd throw in my opinion. The Steam bundle has Avernum 4-6, Geneforge 1-5, Avadon, Avernum EftP, and Nethergate: R. In my (terrible) opinion, those are the most modern and playable of all the SW games - the original Avernum trilogy is a bit too dated for me, and Nethergate: Ressurection is right on the cusp. It's still a really great game, but you have to be willing to fiddle with the dated interface. So, I would start with the most dated of those, Nethergate:R, and work your way up by order of release date. That's how I played through them, and it makes each one that much better. Nethergate, then Geneforge 1-3, then Avernum 4, GF4, Av5, GF5, Av6, then Avadon and the Avernum remake. You get to experience how the games evolved as well as get the best versions of each game, and this way you have PLENTY of time to enjoy the classics and Avadon/Avernum remake before Avadon 2 and Avernum 2 are released in 2013. (I know that technically Nethergate: R came out much later, but the original was in 1999 and Resurrection isn't *that* much improved ^^ just enough to be modernly playable!)

THIS IS AMAZING I LOVE EVERYTHING NOW

Ultima was great for the time, but now I feel like only 6, 8 and 9 are not dated enough to warrant playing again. Avernum does the Ultima-style game way better ^^

9 and 10 stray too far from the original formula to be enjoyable for me, and I consider myself a hardcore fan (I've played and beaten every iteration except for those a multitude of times). All of them are good, but I agree the NES ones are primitive. I don't play those anymore, because there are remakes available. The I-II remake for SNES is fantastic, as is the SNES remake of III. They have fan translations, but are also on Gameboy Color. IV, V, and VI are available on DS. V and VI were on SNES originally, and V has a full 3d PS2 port, which also has a fan translation. The remake of IV was on PSX in the same style as 7 (and is basically identical to the DS port) but is only in Japanese. 7 and 8 have fine translations, though beware if you are playing 8 in English, they altered a lot. It no longer has the classic, streamlined menu system, it is totally graphical, they changed the dialogue display to be, well, ugly, among other unnecessary alterations, such as the main character's graphics changing to look like a super saiyan when in max tension mode; I assume because the only way they could sell DQ to the West is to turn it into an advertisement for DBZ. They also sold it with an FF12 demo, which many people will attest is the only reason they bought it in the first place. Something to note is that 8 was nearing completion of development by the time of the Square-Enix merger. The localization was begun after the merger, which is why the English version resembles crappy "modern" console RPGs, and is to blame for the overdone shoddiness of it. 9 and 10 were by the whole produced by Square, and you can note in credits that Yuji Horii played a less active role. 9 breaks a lot of conventions of the series, including the addition of horrible multipayer, and resembles a turn-based monster hunter more than a DQ game. 10 is simply an MMO and is basically a failure. /rant

The entire Dragon Quest series, 1 through 8. Scenario writer and game designer: Horii Yuuji, an author turned game writer. Music: Sugiyama Koichi, a classical composer. Character design: Toriyama Akira, the name behind Dragon Ball. As a side note, Horii Yuuji and Toriyama both worked on Chrono Trigger alongside Sakaguchi Hironobu. Without them there would be no CT. DQ is either love it or hate it, but if you want open world exploration, properly balanced combat, and great characters and stories without being overly serious, there is none greater.

Ahh, Okkusenman... Such wonderful nostalgia and manly tears. It helps I was into Ultraman as a kid as well as Megaman, so it's the perfect remix for me. Thanks to everyone for all the replies - some of you guys have excellent taste in VG tunes. It saddens me greatly that there will probably never be a Spidweb game with a score, but... Ah, well. There is still a plethora of music out there.

Originally Posted By: Future Wonderbolt Jeff didn't really "hit it big" until quite recently, if you even want to call it that. He's had to deal with having the sales from one game carry them through until the next release. That doesn't leave much room for "let's experiment with investing in a soundtrack and possibly go into the poorhouse". Not to mention, at the length these games are, anything is going to get annoying and repetitive, so what's the point. That doesn't really apply, since as far as I can tell the midi's he chooses for title themes are open license. Plus, if a game didn't make a profit, he wouldn't do it. A lot of complaints from reviews around the 'net involve lack of music - a good score would mean higher reviews which would mean higher sales. And there are many many many games that I have spent just as long and longer than Spiderweb games on that have full scores, and they never got repetitive. The radio, that gets repetitive. A good VG score is varied and if anything makes you want to listen to it more. What sort of games are you playing that have music so bad you get sick of it? Originally Posted By: Childe Jeff has said he doesn't like music in games, so that may be a part. He's also said that he strives to keep download sizes down, although this becomes less and less an issue as fewer and fewer of his customers rely on slow connections. Midis also are tiny, and a full MP3 score isn't more than 50mb - which can be scaled back for minor quality decrease. If Jeff doesn't like music in games, then that pretty much explains the why, though I'd like to know the reasoning. Originally Posted By: Dead man Walking So bottom line is: music all the time or music that jumps you all of a sudden for no reason like in morrowwind is bad or at least not fitting, situational music according to the occasion is good. So I haven't added to the poll, if you think my answer fits one of the options tell me which. I agree with what you're saying I don't think its necessary to replace ambiance with a full melody when ambiance fits the mood better - but considering the epic level of the plot and certain encounters in Jeff's games, the silence, if anything, deadens the experience. (For the poll, I would answer what you think would work best for Spiderweb games, instead of games in general) Originally Posted By: RaustBlackDragon I'm actually thinking of making an unofficial fan soundtrack to Avadon and AEftP when I complete those games. I'm an amateur composer, and I think it might be fun. Do it!! I'd be thrilled to hear it.

Quick background: I haven't been a Spiderweb fan, per se, until a few months ago when I discovered the Geneforge saga, the second Avernum trilogy, and the newer games now available on Steam. I recall playing Exile way back on Win 3.1, but I was pretty young then, and forgot about it until my rediscovery. Anyway, I've been working my way through the Geneforge games and Avernum 4 in all their glory, with much revelry for the past few months. All the ones I've tried so far have been brilliant for their writing, unique settings, fascinating NPCs, and intoxicating combat and exploration. (I skipped Avernum 1-3 and everything prior because they're too dated at this point for me to be able to enjoy thoroughly - I'll just wait for the remakes). The problem is that I enjoy them in silence, for the most part. Besides a few generic sound effects, there is nothing auditory to enjoy. This makes me pretty sad. The one clip of music in each game is generally the title theme, which is probably a freely licensed midi, but that's fine - they're catchy and to some extent set the mood. But why not more? It's been proven that music has a strong tie to memory - and anyone that has played a game with a strong musical score can attest to that. Classic JRPGs and to a lesser extent the Infinity engine and Bioware games generally have great scores, and you'll find yourself waking up any given morning with a particular theme stuck in your head. A game with memorable music is certainly a memorable game. I understand the monetary difficulties of indie studios, and the difficulty of finding a decent composer for any video game, but why has it been nearly 20 years and Jeff V and his associates haven't tried to release a full soundtrack for any Spiderweb games? Is the fanbase anti-BGM? Is Jeff himself anti-BGM? Is it really that expensive or difficult to get music? Do you as the players, or Jeff as the developer really believe it will break the 'feel' of the games? I find, personally, that none of my normal music selections fit too well with these games (I listen to hard, fast music in general with some indie bands here and there). I, naturally, am a strong advocate of game music, and I believe the absolute worst part of the CRPG genre as a whole is its notable lack of music. Certain games, such as Bethsoft games, have a tendency to have orchestral swells every now and again, but they are not nearly enough to satisfy a game music fan. I'm just curious as to what this community thinks. Do you play your games on mute? Do you wish there were more music in Spidweb games? What do you listen to while playing? Let me know. (I did do a forum search but there were no topics within the past six months regarding 'music'.)

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but have you seen this OP? http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20930926&postcount=2 I don't know if Geneforge has this option, but if you know where to look you may be able to add options like it to a config file somewhere. I will try this and post here again if I get it working. Edit: After a lot of messing around I got it to run in a window, but not through the steam API. The wierd thing is that it won't work if the global hook is activated, and it can only be ran in default resolution... sorry I'm not more help.

Been lurking for a little while, and thought I'd share some of my experiences playing GF1 for the first time. I'll put them in spoilers tags so it doesn't spoil anything if you don't want, but I got stuck several times without really knowing why, so maybe this will alleviate some unnecessary frustrations! Click to reveal.. *Mechanics skill - May not be necessary to clear the game, but it sure makes things a lot more accessible. Not a lot of attention is drawn to this in the in-game documentation, nor to spore rods, but Mechanics seems to be pretty important for every character. I left mine at 2, and while it has been possible to clear the game, I wouldn't recommend it. *Spore Rods - You need these to disable mines, the spider-looking ones that you cannot click/select. Your mechanics skill has nothing to do with this. (If you played a Shaper a certain way, the way I did at least, you will NEED a Green Spore Rod to progress at a certain point). There are three varieties - Brown, Green, and Red. They are hidden pretty obscurely, I had to use a FAQ to find one. *Thinker nutrients - Nutrients are very rare, and there are several thinkers that require them to be revived. Save them until you're absolutely sure what you want to do with the thinker. *Control key - Doesn't open the door you think it does. *Unlock key - Opens the door you think it does, but I have never found it. Its location isn't even listed in the FAQ. No actual story spoilers above, I believe, and I think everything else is explained pretty well in-game, but those particular points left me pretty frustrated. Hope it helps. Oh, and don't forget to explore EVERYWHERE, and check the FAQ to see if you missed any exits. Locations have a way of having roundabout ways to get to them.