Posts by Trowa_Barton

  • grb why we banned

    Quote

    Originally posted by SWAT_OP-R8R


    like i said your fighting skills are just average not more so dont call yourself good or experienced
    especially if trowa has killed you (no offence trowa)




    none taken since u never fought me after i left BG and after i got training from DC_Blade and R_39 so u have no clue what my skills are now :]

  • Final Fantasy XII

    Like most every new Final Fantasy installment, this one introduces an entirely new cast of characters and takes place in a unique setting--though, incidentally, this game does share its setting with the recently released Final Fantasy Tactics Advance as well as the original Final Fantasy Tactics. Longtime fans of Square (before it became Square Enix) will recognize the distinctive art style in the game as resembling that of Square's unusual action adventure game Vagrant Story--which is entirely a good thing, because that game's visuals were exceptionally good for its time. And, indeed, if only from looks alone, Final Fantasy XII is also very impressive. However, what surprised us wasn't the look, but the gameplay.


    This does not play like any previous Final Fantasy games. In fact, you could easily mistake it for an action adventure game rather than a standard console RPG, but don't take that remark the wrong way. All it means is that Final Fantasy XII does away with the awkward, yet ancient, role-playing conventions of random battles and jarring transitions between exploration and combat. Instead, in Final Fantasy XII, you'll never get taken out of the core gameplay experience, except when the game shows you a cinematic cutscene or when you access your status menus.


    That means combat occurs seamlessly within the game's fully 3D environments--no screen-shattering, no your-guys-on-one-side-bad-guys-on-the-other-side battle screen, no signature Final Fantasy victory music as you collect your gil and cure potions after you win. None of that. And you know what? We got the distinct impression that this is the best thing to happen to the series in a while. By extension, it may well be representative of a refreshing, new direction for the console role-playing genre to head toward.


    Admittedly, that last statement may be a bit over the top. The truth is, Square's Vagrant Story actually played similarly, only it featured a weird location-based, rhythm-based combat system, whereas Final Fantasy XII is more by the book and lets you command up to three characters at a time instead of just one (and you see all three characters running around in the environment). Basically, the action occurs in real time, but you can always pause to issue new orders. The simplest order is to make all your characters attack a given foe, in which case they'll stand there and dish out the pain as often as they're able to attack, which is fundamentally similar to combat in previous Final Fantasies.


    However, you can get pretty tactical with this system and use the physical location to your advantage. You can have your ranged attackers hang back and fire away while your melee fighters suffer the pain on the front lines, for example. The signature spells of Final Fantasy all seem to be here, though we didn't get to try out any summoning spells or anything too spectacular. Still, we felt good about the combat, which comes across as more dynamic and somehow more plausible than in previous games.



    It wouldn't be a Final Fantasy without some strange gameplay "system," and this next chapter will be no exception. This time you can assign "gambits" to your characters, which work like tactical orders. The basic gambit determines whether or not members of your party will follow the main character's lead, but other gambits may allow characters to deploy different strategies in battle by default. Such systems tend to be pretty deep, and frankly, we didn't get to explore this aspect of the game in too much detail during our relatively brief time spent with the game.


    We did get to see a lot of the game's cutscenes, which are as beautifully produced and choreographed as ever. The characters emote subtly, and their respective personalities come across very well--or, in other words, we kind of wanted to just stand there and play Final Fantasy XII all day to figure out what the game was all about.


    For that, we went straight to the source. In an interview with FFXII director Yasumi Matsuno, we attempted to plumb the erstwhile director of Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story for new story and gameplay details. He was understandably mum about the plot, though he did confirm that there are no direct connections to any previous game set in Ivalice--it's the same world, but don't expect any familiar faces. Matsuno also expounded on the gambit system, telling us that there will be 10 gambit categories and that new gambits will be treated like items (that is, you'll typically buy them from vendors or find them dropped by slain monsters).


    Given FFXII's impressive character animation system, which includes emotive facial expressions, Matsuno said the team is attempting to keep as much of the game's cinematic content in-engine as possible. However, CG will still be used for grandiose scenes of battle or the flight of airships, for instance. On the game's music, Matsuno said he has asked composer Hitoshi Sakimoto to create a slightly more up-tempo and optimistic score than the characteristically moody fare he's provided for previous games such as Vagrant Story. Series composer Nobuo Uematsu will be creating the game's theme song, which has a theme of love. Matsuno noted that Uematsu's love song has even influenced a slight change in the game's storyline.


    Matsuno told us his design philosophy for Final Fantasy XII is one that marries the best aspects of off- and online RPGs. That's not to say the game will have stilted online components--quite the contrary; it's as focused on story and role-playing as any game in the Final Fantasy series. Matsuno told us that, while there are gameplay elements of online RPGs that he finds appealing, he's annoyed by the compulsion to be social in such games. FFXII will therefore bring aspects of MMORPG design, such as the aforementioned open-ended combat system, to the defined narrative structure that Final Fantasy is known for.



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  • Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown Hands-On - Rainbow Returns to the P

    Forget about last year's console versions; Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the PC appears to be a completely different game, indeed.



    Though it started out on the PC, the Rainbow Six series has become especially popular on the consoles. This has become a point of concern for PC gamers who fear that the series, known for its ruthlessly brutal and realistic tactical combat, will mutate into just another console shooter. Last year's Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube did nothing to alleviate those fears, as we were introduced to a "hip" new generation of Rainbow commandos who were too cool to even bother with wearing helmets in combat. After all, helmets would just cover up their cool cornrows (PC fans everywhere wailed in anguish over that detail). So you could imagine our complete surprise when we recently loaded up an early PC version of Lockdown and discovered that this isn't a mere port. Red Storm is giving us a new version of Lockdown built directly for the PC, while also getting rid of all the silly elements found in the console versions. Throw in the spiffy new graphics engine, and suddenly we're looking at a potential faithful heir to the PC franchise.



    Like the previous games in the series, Lockdown puts you in charge of the elite Rainbow counterterrorist team, a NATO unit tasked with stopping the bad guys and rescuing hostages in high-risk missions. Lockdown will feature 16 missions set in exotic locales around the world, from the Dutch parliament to the South African capitol, and you'll slowly uncover yet another nefarious conspiracy to unleash global havoc. Thankfully, you've got a lot of firepower at your disposal, as you have a huge arsenal of weapons and equipment to choose from, as well as a team of elite commandos to lead into battle.


    Still, we should note that the PC version of Lockdown isn't quite Rainbow Six as you may know it. First, the trademark mission planning that the series is known for is gone. Now, after you outfit your team from the extensive array of weapons and equipment options (at least that remains untouched), you launch directly into the mission. You no longer have the ability to plan out your team's attack, and while most players generally skipped this phase, it was one of the things that made Rainbow Six different from virtually every other shooter on the market. Also, the multiple-squad format of previous Rainbow Six games is gone. Instead of leading several teams into combat and being able to jump between them, you'll lead a single team of four elite operatives who follow you around and follow your orders.



    It's immediately clear upon entering the first mission that this is a vastly different game from the console versions of Lockdown. Though the locales are the same (the first mission starts in South Africa, just like the console versions), the levels and environments are much bigger and much more detailed than those found in the console versions. There's no mistaking this is a PC game and not a port, especially after you see the fancy graphical effects, such as heat blur and dreamy water reflections, as well as the high quality of the graphics in general. Some textures are incredibly sharp, and there are lots of little things in the environment to knock over, thanks to the game's physics engine. We immediately got caught in a firefight with several terrorists in a parking lot, and it was a lot of fun to shoot out car windows and watch the rag-doll physics in effect. Just unload a few pieces of lead into a bad guy, and his body will recoil like it should. Sometimes they just slump to the ground. Other times, they'll get knocked back. The location damage also helps the death animations; you can shoot a guy's leg out from under him and he'll tumble to the ground believably. And, thankfully, none of the awkward death contortions from Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (the last PC Rainbow Six game) have appeared thus far.



    Tango Down
    The artificial intelligence in Lockdown looked a bit flaky at times, but it was fairly solid from what we saw, and the game is still in development, so there's hope this can get tweaked further. We saw terrorists use cover intelligently, such as hiding behind pillars or cowering by the side of a car. Your own teammates basically follow you around and provide supporting fire, but you can give them a move order simply by pointing the cursor where you want them to go and hitting the space bar. They'll move ahead, and if the coast is clear they'll give you a hand signal to move up. You can also give them specific orders, such as to breach a door (blow the lock open), toss a flashbang grenade in, and then clear the room of enemies. Just point the cursor at the door and select the options. The team will assemble at the door and prepare the charges, and you simply have to tap the go code for them to execute the move.



    While the levels are big, they're not quite as large or as wide open as those found in earlier Rainbow Six games on the PC. There's much more of a linear feeling to the levels in Lockdown, whereas previous games had such huge levels that you could often get lost exploring them. That brings up one of the more interesting aspects of Lockdown: Each mission can take place on multiple maps. Instead of having the mission take place on one huge level, several levels are pieced together to create a mission. For example, in the campaign's initial mission, the first level is all about battling through a huge parking structure to get to the street level. Once you do that, you load the next level, which covers the running street battle as you go from the parking garage to the bank, which is your objective. Once you arrive at the bank, the game loads the third level, which is the interior of the bank itself. The game saves your progress at each level load, so when you die you don't need to start the entire mission over. It's certainly an unusual approach, especially for a Rainbow Six game, but we'll see how it pans out over the course of a full game.


    We should also note that Lockdown isn't a "one shot, one kill" game like previous Rainbow Six games, either. In early Rainbow Six games, you have the barest margin for error, since a single shot can put a commando out of commission. However, Lockdown is a lot more forgiving, since each commando has a health bar consisting of three bars. If you're wounded, you take damage. If you take enough damage, you lose a health bar. If you lose all three health bars, the commando is dead. And since you can't switch between commandos, if your main character dies, you've got to reload the mission. The version we had also featured two difficulty settings, normal and challenge. Unfortunately, from what we can tell, challenge doesn't make the game one-shot, one-kill. Instead, it appears that enemies are just tougher to take down, and you still have the three-bar health system.


    After you finish the game's campaign, there is still plenty of replayability in Lockdown, judging by the number of different single-player and multiplayer modes. You can play the single-player maps in terrorist hunt, reverse terrorist hunt, lone wolf, and training modes, and all the single-player maps are playable in multiplayer in cooperative mode. Other multiplayer modes include team adversarial, rivalry, retrieval, free for all, and terrorist hunt. Multiplayer is a Rainbow Six staple, of course, and the good news is that there are also a number of bonus multiplayer-only maps, some based on classic Rainbow Six levels, such as Mint and 747. Oh yeah, and Lockdown will support up to 16 players.



    While Lockdown isn't Rainbow Six as PC gamers know it, the good news is that this is a much more serious game than the console versions--so much so that you have to wonder why Ubisoft and Red Storm are keeping the name exactly the same, as this will undoubtedly sow some consumer confusion. It appears that Red Storm remembers its roots, and the PC version of Lockdown is a challenging game in the PC Rainbow Six vein. And while it's more streamlined than previous Rainbow Six games, we'll find out how the gameplay stacks up when Lockdown is released next month.



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  • A clone????(

    rofl @ Centaurian


    well anyway everyone has the right to chose the nick he or she wants.


    First if u ask him nicely to change his nick then u get nasty and kill him over and over and over again. People always want to find out the hard way. Just like if they try to run from tax and think they can get away with it...

  • grb why we banned

    I would like to make a small comment on this


    First of all u say we are kids while the age of the people here is between 16 and 50. The clans that u fought at planet malta had an average age of 25. So not really 1337 kids who don't like to lose...


    2nd of all i strongly believe that the killcount was on our side and u guys recieved heavy losses.


    3rd the matter of cheating is not an argument anymore by the screenshot of the IFSO log provided by OP. It is proven and u should take the consequences. Cheating is unacceptable and therefor the ban is more then just

  • The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II Preview

    The multiplayer beta test of The Battle for Middle-earth II gives us a first glimpse at what's new and improved in this real-time-strategy sequel.



    Though the movie saga has come to a close (at least, until the movie studios can sort out the rights to The Hobbit), The Lord of the Rings continues to carry on in the realm of PC and console games. Next up is The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II--the sequel to 2004's popular real-time-strategy game. Due out early this year for the PC (the recently announced Xbox 360 version is due out this summer), The Battle for Middle-earth II will focus on the major battles and campaigns that weren't shown in Peter Jackson's movies.



    We've been playing around with the recently launched multiplayer beta test of the game. Currently, the multiplayer beta is very limited in terms of gameplay--only the regular skirmish mode is playable. The much more ambitious War of the Ring mode, which will let you play a long-term campaign against another player, is not available in beta. The skirmish mode is currently limited to up to four players, features only two maps, and has only two playable factions (there are six factions total), though both are new factions that weren't in the original game. The first new faction is the dwarves (represented by Gimli in the movie), and the other faction is the goblins, which aren't so much a single race as they are a group of different monster factions that include goblins, spiders, and others.



    Playing the skirmish mode did let us see some of the key gameplay differences between the original game and the sequel. We can tell that EA took some of the feedback from the original game to heart, because The Battle for Middle-earth II features a number of key changes in the way base construction is handled. For example, in the original game, you could only build atop predetermined building nodes, which meant that you couldn't really design your own base. While this feature was meant to maintain game balance by preventing one side from simply outproducing the other, strategyveterans didn't appreciate the limitation. The Battle for Middle-earth II now lets you build your base as you would in other games--you can place buildings wherever you want. You're only limited by the amount of space you have to build and the resources at your disposal.


    Speaking of which, the resource-gathering model has also undergone change. In the original game, you collected generic resources by building farms and lumber mills in certain areas on the map. Now that the building nodes are gone, you might think that you can just build a dozen farms or mines on the map and rake in the resources. But the designers are one step ahead of you. Certain structures, such as a mine or a farm, now have a radius around them that limits how efficient they can be. So if you put a farm in the middle of nowhere, it'll operate at 100 percent efficiency. But, if you put a farm right next to the one already built, their radii will overlap and the new farm will operate at a much lower rate of efficiency, thus gathering fewer resources. The key is to spread your resource centers out so that they don't overlap. Of course, having such a sprawling base can be difficult to defend, but thankfully, The Battle for Middle-earth II has thought of that, as well.



    Another new feature in the game is the ability to build elaborate defenses, including walls, catapults, and towers. This is especially important for the dwarves and any of the other good races (remember how many siege battles were in the movies?). The dwarves can use their main fortress as the key hub in their walls' defenses. If you're playing as the dwarves, you create a wall hub at your fortress, which lets you extend a wall from that hub. You can stretch the wall as far as you want (once again, you're limited by space and resources), and once it's completed, you can extend another wall in a different direction simply by clicking on the end of the completed wall and dragging it to where you want it to go. It's also possible to reinforce walls by building catapults and towers along the walls' lengths. Doing so will let the dwarves bombard oncoming attackers who venture too close to their base. You can also build other specialized additions to your fortress. For example, the goblins can attach their fortress to their tunnel network, which lets them quickly and quietly shuffle units around the battlefield.



    Combat in The Battle for Middle-earth II remains fairly unchanged from the original game. Once again, instead of recruiting individual soldiers, you recruit battalions of 20 to 40 soldiers at a time (except for heroes and certain types of elite or heavy units, which you recruit one by one). These battalions can be further upgraded if you construct and research the appropriate buildings and technologies. So, you can equip a battalion with magical weapons and armor, fire arrows or special siege hammers, and you can assign a standard bearer to the battalions, which improves the battalions' fighting ability. One nice new feature is that you can now select multiple battalions and easily form battle lines by holding down both mouse buttons anywhere on the map. This feature lets you quickly organize your forces into a battle line, which can be helpful if you're facing a huge army.


    The Battle for Middle-earth II looks even better than the original, though many of the differences may seem subtle. The original game was already pretty impressive, and it's hardly more than a year old, but the sequel looks to have incorporated better lighting and shadowing effects. These upgrades aren't just eye candy either, as some of the new graphics can impact gameplay. For example, one of the new things that you can do is burn down forests, which might be helpful if you detect an enemy camp inside of it. As the fire spreads, units caught in the blaze can go up in smoke. Afterward, the once lush terrain is reduced to a blackened husk.



    We were only given the chance to play with a fraction of the game in the multiplayer beta, but what we've seen so far is very encouraging, as it appears that EA listened to the feedback from its fans. The original, The Battle for Middle-earth, was a good strategy game, but it left a lot of room for improvement. Fortunately, The Battle for Middle-earth II looks like it will make good on the original's shortcomings. We're still interested in checking out the new, overarching War of the Ring campaign mode, which will let you try to conquer Middle-earth one province at a time (in both single-player and multiplayer modes). If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, this game very well may be the strategy game you've been waiting for.



    Credits to Jason Ocampo
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  • True love is...

    Allowing ur boyfriend to puke on you?


    <embed SRC="http://clip.break.com/dnet/media/content/couchlove.wmv" WIDTH="400" HEIGHT="320" AUTOPLAY="true" ></embed><br><a href="http://www.break.com?e=1" target="_blank">As seen on Break.com</a>

  • trowa back?

    Arghhh it is I



    but that was hardly worth posting a thread in the server news. the off topic board or asking someone from your clan would have been sufficient. But still it moves me. Thank you for crancking up my ego ;)

  • GRB PIRATES

    Quote

    Originally posted by darkstalker
    i have got a grip a very good one......more than ppl realize. also i think ur definition of the word "fun" is differant than mine i dont think seeing my members being driven mad by obviously suppported so called "freelance pirates" i dont think having a flame war with a new clan and is "fun" whoever is right or wrong in the matter.


    Btw who are those "freelancer pirates" supported then if i may ask? Do u think becoz i don't tax BG, DC and R_39 that they support me? That is purely selfpreservation and also a reason is becoz i have friends in those clans. As for LP, Fallen, PiA, GRB and UAC i will tax them whenever i see them.


    So as i conclude u are stopping all RP activities becoz 2 of ur pilots got beat by 2 freelancers in fair combat? There were 2 witnesses of that battle 1 from BG and 1 from R_39 who can confirm that is was fair.


    It was your bad luck that brought us to PiA that night. Could be very well that we go 2on2 tomorrow with LP or Fallen. And ur post about suspending all RP will not keep us from attacking PiA in the future, u just spoil fun for ur clanmembers who can RP with other clans for a diversity of missions.


    On a sidenote if u don't want to be attacked then just pay the tax... Its not becoz you payed us tax that the whole PiA clan is covered for 24 hours.




    EDIT: post not intended to piss anyone off just getting in this discussion, i would ask that the bikkering ends between sleepy and DS and handle this in a civil way. nobody has gain by arguments between 2 of cf's most respected clans.

  • GRB PIRATES

    I think the biggest problem now is communication becoz kakos obviously doesn't master english. DC and any other clans should get all the facts straight before enganging on GRB for roleplay purposes. If stuff isn't clear for all sides the this could escalate and we don't want another server now do we...?