Vak Il Mio Amore

I'd recommend dropping by it sometime this week- Like I said, I think Levi was saying he's hoping to get the last pages of the entire thing up tonight. The art is astounding, the storyline is in line with the rest of the canon, and perhaps one of my favorite parts: It connects various aspects of the Halo universe that are separated between games. For example, you see a couple Vultures from Halowars in the same slide as the Frigates so often seen in Halo 2/3/Reach. It's really worth taking, say, 30 minutes tops out of your week to go check it out.

Aye, I'm with you on that. They already made a move I was hopeful for with Anniversary: No changes to the actual gameplay of CE. Plus the addition of transitioning between old and new graphics... certainly unprecedented in my gaming experience. The next big step for them on gaining my approval is to accept Levi's Fistful of Arrows graphic novel that details the death of Jun and further expands upon Noble Team. If they integrate it into canon (Levi's anticipating to finish posting the last few "pages" by tonight) and with Levi get it into the hands of the public, it'll definitely be a major thumbs up to them. It's certainly been on the public eye ever since he started working on it.

Goodness, this must be cheater-ban-month, between Halo and Runescape... Awesome! I'm quite confident with the way 343i's been behaving. Taking care of Reach's multiplayer aspect, continuing to release potentially great books (they've overseen the creation of the last few), a great looking Anniversary with some very good ideas thrown in, not to mention the data-drops they have on the Waypoint site that are filling in some of the holes between the Reach campaign and Eric Nylund's Fall of Reach. 343i certainly has the potential; Halo 4 will be their deal breaker.

Yeah, it sounds like it's either a very limited, selective population of bots that don't use reflection technology (or whatever it's called >.>), or that non-reflection programs are more difficult to design properly and as such I'm fairly confident that bots will struggle for quite some time to become effective at swaying the game's flow again. Plus, whether they succeed to the level they're aiming for or not, we get some pretty sweet perks this week just for the occasion, eh?

*Hopes that, in a few years, prices will start to drop back down to the glory days* Meh, I can dream right? Though I do honestly miss when anything over 25m was considered fairly wealthy, and anybody worth a bil was practically idolized. The problem all started with the PvP changes and the GE with limited trade, but at least it was intended to be for a greater cause. Personally I'm glad they brought Free Trade back, and that's the only reason I'm back to Rs- It's more fun and interesting without those limits :3 But I digress; come what may Tuesday, I anticipate and hope that a sizeable chunk of the bots in-game get vaporized, and that the population doesn't rise back to that level for at least a year or two, if ever again. Even if they really only manage to kill, say, 50% it's still a vast improvement and the game will be significantly easier for us who don't buy/sell everything whilst relying on the prices that botting has given us I'm one of those people who generally supply myself and do it myself, so I'm not exactly opposed to a temporary skyrocket in prices until people adjust to a somewhat more botless society.

The setup I've identified my Noble Six with in Campaign is usually: Recon [3] HelmetRecon/Tactical bodyRecon Shoulder (L and R)GUNGNIR KneesAssault/Breacher WristMedical leg-piece I kinda clung the idea of the Lone Wolf and what he'd typically have, and Recon kinda stuck out to me

Don't worry, it's still over a year away- and if 343 is like Bungie in any way, they'll be pretty good at keeping details under the hood until about the 6-months-to-launch mark. I almost wish they had kept Halo 4 a secret... When they dropped the bombshell on Halo 3 coming out, it'd been a few years since a Halo game was released, and it was extremely exciting. It almost seems to take out some of the oomph by saying, "Ohey, we're also doing this, but it won't be out for awhile!" But that's just how I feel. I missed the Halo 1/Halo 2 releases.

Yes, but those things are basically useless to developing FTL systems. I've read the article too It just proves that humanity can engineer something capable of FTL travel, but neutrinos themselves are next to useless for that purpose.

I'm aware. Like I said, I'd get the the site's name if I could remember it. It was just the one that seemed most professional to me, and the one I primarily followed. I'm sorry I'm unable to be any more detailed than that, and I know that could be one of any number of sites.

Yea, I didn't see those GOTY nominations, and I don't know what the heck you Mean by a "primary" GOTY website. Every game journalisim website in existence has their own; the only "main" one is the one you like best. Before last year I never got too horribly caught up in GOTY, just kept up with the Top 5 or so on some sites. And I'm sure I'm mistaken now from the responses given >_> However, if I remember an Url or the site's name, I'd probably divulge what site it was to the best of my abilities without breaking BZP rules. All I remember was it was definitely one of the more professionally set up, presented GOTY sites. It just had this air of importance to the way it presented the GOTY.

EDITED for the post above me. ^^Oh yes, I know that. However, there is a -Primary- GOTY website, which is what most people think of when they hear "Game of the Year". Though I do recognize and normally frequent the various GOTY sites :3 ^The primary site I followed (which I beileve was the main GOTY, the one everybody watches most of all... sadly, I don't remember who or the URL or anything >.<) had those games up there, but Heavy Rain and that one game where you're a little kid in a black-and-white world were two of the top 5, and both were very untradtional.

Usually the presence of the Flood is one of the biggest contributors to the M-Rating. Without it, Halo loses the Gore part of their ratings altogether- Check your Halo games that do and don't have Flood for proof :3 Honestly, if it weren't for consistency in ratings, I'm sure something like ODST would become Rated T. Otherwise the Flood, especially the graphically better games get, are plenty grotesque.

It's been in beta for like forever, but it will be officially released at minecon this year. Sadly, I doubt it'll win, cause it's just so non-traditional. That should be a terrible reason not to elect something GOTY. But that's just the case. You did keep up with GOTY last year, right? Some of the top games were altogether ENTIRELY unconventional, including the winner. For that reason alone, Minecraft should have a pretty heavy hand in this year's GOTY.

Oh yes, completely optional. Some people may prefer a Caeser's Legion approach, where just about everyone is faceless except perhaps the Leader or their main delegates, so that they don't get too attached to a unit they may lose. Where as others, like myself, would totally like having a hero or two in there that's iconic to us of our Empire

EDIT- This was a response to Dr Robert, didn't see your message at the time, Undying Just clarifying to avoid confusion. Well what I'm thinking is having a limited number of "unique citizens"/Hero Class units would help the need to have unique characters within a massive Empire, such as an Arbiter for the Covenant or Samus for the GMC, etc. Just those unique characters that everyone recognizes and knows to avoid on the field of battle for their pure prowess. If they're portrayed as this Hero Class, it'll help develop the Empire as a whole and allow for a bit of unique-character interactions or rivalries. Anywho, that's just my thoughts

Why not just meet a middle ground and do what console/computer RPGs tend to do? Huge, faceless empires with very few named faces who are necesarry for delegation and what have you; basically how IL was if I understand it right. However, have the addition of a limited number of "Hero" classes, or unique characters who would operate separate of a regular unit, and could behave differently from most of the Empire being Roleplayed- It would help players get a feel for the race's personality in general through the expression of a few unique characters, or what have you. This would be more effective in a Fantasy setting than Deep Space, but having Boba Fett-esque characters with unique ships and the like could pull it off. ^This was all said with very little knowledge of IL; for all I know, there could have been hero classes.

Oh, I thought you were nitpicking on types of magic >_> Nah, I get the angle you're coming at now. Ah well, I'm gonna stop while I'm ahead before I go and start writing half an RPG by accident XD

Those were just suggestions on how to organize skills and ensure that people aren't creating random, potentially OP spells out of the total blue. I wouldn't necesarrly condone having the same kinds of combat magicks, portal magicks, etc. Just the idea of organizing spells in a way somewhat like that. Heck, players that would make their own guilds of wizards would probably be able to construct their own spellbook, with moderation from the GM?

^Seeing as I won't be able to create the RPG or what have you, they're certainly not questions I'm to answer But stuff like that are invaluable questions for the creator of such an RPG to take into account- particularly magic. Heck, personally for magic, I'd suggest creating a sort of "Spellbook" system like that used in Runescape. You've got your combat magicks, your portal/transportation magicks, your enchantments, and your non-combat magicks. Then perhaps some way of controlling the amount of Magic used, so to say. Either way, I'm hoping someone takes that mantle upon their shoulders :3

Just to indulge my personal curiousity as I've lost a bit of track over the conversation: Is somebody still planning to do a high-fantasy/mideival RPG that is in some ways like IL? Much as IL interests me, I like to try and balance out my sci-fi vs. fantasy, and with the Halo RPG I'll be getting my sci-fi fix So if anybody was still planning to do a fantasy version that is in some ways similar or what have you, I'm totes willing to support it and offer my thoughts to make it work as well.

Your, sir, have scored yourself one of the best Co-Hosts I've ever had Necro and Spink have both done some incredible work with me, and I fully endorse Necro's partnering up with you :3

Generals are considered part of the overall Zealot "Archetype" of the covenant, more of an officers position than combat. And while they appear to be higher ranked, the common concensus is that Generals are field combat and Zealots are Special Operations - Generals rank higher. Easiest way to think it is the order you unlock stuff in reach - Zealot, Then General. Least that's just my take. Rank of ultra being gone... well there's lots of ranks missing. General, Field Marshal, etc etc... Better not to think too much Bunda. I'll have to look again at the ranks to ascertain things: I was in such a rush to get it up ahead of other RPGs that I didn't totally review the Ranks section in particular. However, Kini's assessment of Generals-V-Zealots is correct; there's a lot of confusion around the Zealot archetype that Bungie/343's set up, but we believe General is a higher ranking Zealot, while a Ship Master/Field Marshall are generally the highest up. Plus, Kini, Field Marshall IS in the rankings Concerning Ultra- I'll be sure to look into that. A lot of this is the exact same from the original Halo RPG, with appropriate additions made in the basic information of races/planets/ranks/vehicles/what have you. The only significant changes between this RPG and the original are the Plot, Setting, and a few of the Ex-Covenant races' standing in power and representation. Either way, as we go I'll be sure to clean that up

Because we all know that fans are shaped like the devs, amirite or amirite? Anyways, for me, I'd probably go with New Vegas, all 4 DLCs included. New Vegas couldn't win it since it came out last year. From what I've seen, DLC doesn't make a game any more elligable (sp?)... Anywho, I'm sitting in the camp of "Wayy too soon to decide." I won't have a decision until the November release season is over, when a bunch of the big titles are finally out. That said, I've got a few opinions of some of the games that seem to be in contending: -If MW3 actually wins, it'll be the last CoD to do so. Perhaps I'm the only one of this opinion, but CoD's annual releases and lack of true innovation in their games has earned them a nice cashflow in a short amount of time... I think MW3's going to be the last truly popular Call of Duty, and it'll go downhill after that. Personally, I see it perhaps making the top 10 but not the winner. -Battlefield 3: No particular opinion, it sounds like the fanbase is pretty up and happy about it so far, but I've heard some dissent from the Beta (as we get from most betas ). I could see it feasibly butting its head into the top 10. -Assassins Creed: Revelations. This game has a lot of potential, IMO. The AC series is always fun to play, and between the three main games they've made tons of useful changes or creative additions. -CE: Anniversary. At best it'll probably receive an honorable mention. I love Halo to death, but you can only do so much with a campaign layered over in graphics and thrown together with 7 multiplayer maps for Reach. Halo 4's going to take up a ton of attention next year anywho, that's where 343 will really prove themselves as a company. -Rage: I haven't looked too much into it, but from the one video I saw and from what I've heard, a lot of people compare it in style (not gameplay nor genre) to Fallout. It's seemed popular enough to get somewhere, however! -Skyrim: Major contender, IMO. I've heard soooo many people of various fanbase talk about going straight over to that game once it hits release. -GoW3: Eh, perhaps a popular honorable mention or within the top 20? -Skyward Sword: Mehr... We'll see. Personally, the more bright and animated-looking Zelda games never appeal to me as much as, say, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or Twilight Princess. Skyward's almost like a combo of the two, but personally from what little I've seen, I don't think it'd be the winner. I wouldn't doubt it capable of making the top 10, however. -Minecraft: I'll be honest; I haven't gotten many games this year whatsoever. A little strapped for cash, busy, and not a whole lot aside from continuations of series that I have some, but not great interest in. Minecraft is perhaps the one game I've heard talked about the most all year though. And considering what made GOTY last year... Minecraft may be the one to take it home. It'll beyond a doubt make the top 10. -Pokemon Black/White: Another year, another generation of Pokes. Since this is a new generation with all sorts of new features, I can see them appearing somewhere in the top 20 at least. Pokemon always tends to come off with some level of popularity and appraise, even if the new pokes this year are.. a bit odd, here and there All in all, those are totally just my opinions from what I've heard, seen, or experienced. I've still yet to make a personal decision, but those are some of my guesses on popular titles. This year feels like it's another buildup year for an amazing release year. The last year I remember being excited and amazed at all the great, competative titles being released was 2007. In 07 we saw Halo 3, the debut of Modern Warfare for CoD, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, among others. Guitar Hero also surged in popularity in 07.In 06 we saw Assassins Creed, Gears of War, and Twilight Princess debut, among others. I'm sure there are other huge titles I've missed that came out in these two years. ^Those were perhaps the two golden years of videogaming we've had in awhile; it's about time for another major year. While this year's bringing on things like AC4, Uncharted 3, Portal 2, MW3, BF3, GOW3, Skyrim... a lot of the big titles are, in fact, sequels, trilogies, or beyond. It's not to say they're bad, because I definitely love a lot of these series and titles! However, it's just one of those years where nothing seems to really be dropping jaws everywhere. Definitely a better release year than last year, but I have a feeling 2011 will be to 2012 as 2006 was to 2007: A buildup for an amazing year! 'Course this is totes my opinion and everybody is welcome to disagree All I know is I'm not getting that amazed, agape feeling I had when Halo 3 was announced, and furthermore when other FPS and such were actually competing with it! But here's to a good year in videogaming, and I wish all the titles that end up selected for the best!

Really? That's odd... When it comes to Legendary, here's my rankings: Easiest-to-hardest:1) Halo 32) Halo 3:ODST3) Halo: Reach4) Halo: CE5) Halo 2 H3/ODST are laughably easy. The flood don't even matter because you can punch through them, and swords make pures a joke more often than not. ODST, too, was pretty easy. I'd only say more difficult because you're weaker, your melees aren't as good, and drone swarms when you don't have a good weapon. Reach was a nice level of difficulty, actually. I'd say it ranks up there right with CE in actuality. And if you think H:R is easy, do Pillar of Autumn on Mythic. It's pretty rough, and -nearly- impossible in the very final area after Keyes has the Package. You get bonus points if you do it solo, without a friend. Halo CE is practically tied with Reach IMO; it's only ranked higher up because, quite frankly, the designs of the game at that time made it more difficult. Physics are a bit more sloppy, and it's harder to avoid attacks to begin with, not to mention fall damage in that game/getting tapped by a vehicle. Otherwise, aside from the Library, Halo CE is about on par with Reach. Finally, Halo 2 on Legendary... this one took me the absolute longest to beat. Flood, Sniper Jackals, Brutes, Drone Swarms... all just absolutely awful. Jackal Snipers win so many gunfights because you always seem to miss juuust one that kills you. Drone swarms are nasty if you aren't prepared with a BR or sniping weapon. Brutes are just devastating when encountered in more than pairs... Raging brutes caused so many deaths in Halo 2 Legendary. And finally.. this was probably the hardest the Flood had ever been. No Flood buddies, no melee devastation. Plus, they're actually decent with weapons in this game and significantly faster. All in all, Halo 2 is probably the monster of monsters to tackle on Legendary... let alone Mythic. One can only hope they do a Halo 2 Remake at some point, if only so we have every Halo as an official 360 title, plus the graphics are also just a little out of date (lots of clipping..)

For awhile a couple years ago, I was helping somebody with a high fantasy sandbox RPG for this site, but I guess they never finished and it never saw fruition. In a sandbox, High Fantasy is the way to go in my opinion ^-^