RPGs are too addictive! Also, DNF is the most appropriate title ever.

Hi SuperViv!

OK, I'll probably follow your advice. No Oblivion! I definitely want to play Fallout 1, but I need to be on the right mindset. I can't just drop into the game, because I'm easily turned off by the gaming conventions and design contraints old games have. We've come a long way and now games are so user-friendly that it's hard to go back to the basics. I've read that Fallout 2 was broken because it was rushed out (always a bad sign for a game), though a fan-created patch fixes that. Then, there's a third game for PC, "Tactics", and one for consoles, "Brotherhood of Stell", but they are not RPGs anymore.

Of course I know Guild Wars! Actually, my first professional translation was an expansion for this game, Guild Wars: Nightfall. The text was so interesting that I bought two copies of the game afterwards, and I started to play it with my brother. That's the best way to enjoy it! I also bought the other games and played through most of the Prophecies campaing.

The thing with GW is that it's actually a MMORPG simulacrum, and it can be described as a regular RPG designed to be played with up to three other players in coop mode or solo. Great you can play solo! Though an early gate in "Prophecies" can only be opened with the help or another player. I don't know if they have changed that now that some servers (the Spanish one, at least) are completely deserted with no other humans in sight (and I did notice that the difficulty of some enemy encounters have been drastically toned down). It's a shame, because it's just a great game.

I think the best thing about Guild Wars is that it's so casual-friendly. You can play a bit, do a few missions, and then pick it up several months later. So I've been playing it for almost three years now. That's the only way for me; I don't like the WoW mechanism of buying your way into the game: once you start paying the monthly fee, then you just have to play. This creates a pressure on the player, a pressure I don't want or need. I don't want to give up my life for a f***ing game.

I'm still waiting for Did Not Finish... I mean, Duke Nukem: Forever. They should just release what they have as a shareware product (back to the good old times!), and call it DNF: The Lost Levels.

I've been playing Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazzard lately, and there's a jab at Duke Nukem ("Nuke Winter: Coming Soonish!) during the last level. Which is stupid, because Matt Hazzard is supposed to be Duke Nukem, and because DNF is probably better in its unreleased form that this boring mess of a game. Maybe one day I'll tell you what's wrong with it. Too bad, because it definitely had potential for greatness!

See you tomorrow!
Danda