In Response to “Don’t Roleplay the Bugs”: I just rolled my eyes when I read this beginner’s description of playing DM’ed sessions in Neverwinter Nights. Try talking to someone who has been running them since 2002 over at Neverwinter Connections. You absolutely can emulate the PnP environment, and in many ways do it better, since combat is essentially real time with the computer doing all of the rolls for you and the immersion is far greater. You can reduce your build time by downloading campaign modules, same as you do in PnP by buying published modules, except they’re free.
I have fond memories of my tabletop days, but I have no desire to return to them. NWN is the superior game. That it takes more than a few sessions to do it well should come as no surprise to someone who has played a lot of tabletop. Picture what your first few sessions of tabletop gaming were like. I doubt it was the Lord of the Rings.
-Brian
To the Editor: I just wanted to drop a note saying that I really enjoy reading The Escapist. As the President of Red 5 Studios and former Team Lead for World of Warcraft at Blizzard, please let me know if there is any way I can contribute.
-Markus
In Response to “From ’94 to Infinity: Before Halo” from The Escapist Lounge: I wept – wept! – at this article. A sophomore in high school in 1994, Bungie was one of my all-time favorite companies. Still is, and ranks right next to Ambrosia Software as one of the best game makers of all time.
Thanks for the memories. I’m off to install Aleph One now.
-Chris Brinkley
In Response to “The Left Behind” from The Escapist Lounge: I’m definitely one of the gaming homeless as well. I agree about Quake 2 … in fact, I was playing it the other day, and after playing both Q3 and the Q4 demo, I realized how great that game was and still is. It wasn’t really nostalgia either, side-by-side the gameplay was just more gripping and intense. I wanted to plow into the next level, story or no story. A lot of games these days are missing that hook that pulls you in. I’m not talking about addictiveness, either – I mean a devotion to beat the game. You don’t hardly get that feeling anymore.
-Ray
To the Editor: I was refreshed by the notion of a person who does not consider themselves a gamer, but happens to play a lot of games. This is me in a nut shell, and it resonated very clearly.
Thank you.
P.S. – are casual gamers a real commercial market, or a post-content design add-on? What tools/services link groups together that also happen to game (x-fire, trillian, google, skype, ventrillo, teamspeak, etc), and why can’t I have just one?
-Andrew
