Posts made by raphjd

Actually, there aren't as many separate studios as there were even 5 years ago.  There have been a lot of mergers and sub studios created.

I can believe that studios like BelAmi paying big money for their "actors", especially the big name ones.

Dustin Lance Black is his name.

YES, they are still together and by all reports, they are still extremely happy.

You comment is pretty shallow. Instead of being happy that he makes Tom happy, you're making comments about his looks.  We could flip it around and say Tom is golddigging an Oscar winning multi millionaire.

The point the other poster was making is that you have to have both the PS3 and PS4 to play your already owned PS3 games.  The same with Xbox.

Micro$oft and $ony are both still putting out games (ie: the new Grid game) only for their previous gen consoles to keep us attached to them.

I honestly think they are doing in cynical way to justify (called artificial value inflation) the £50 price tag on the latest gen games.

@nob86:

Can you post the pic without the annotations? Who is he?

He's in at least 2 torrents here;

https://www.gaytorrent.ru/details.php?id=8db75dcca4bc97aa6b6eac6a5bcead8f14c1357dee253505&tocomm=1

https://www.gaytorrent.ru/details.php?id=b5803b7318715a1b6b6eac6a5bcead8f2ca2b16e61ce9398&tocomm=1

I think most guys (gay and hetero) compare themselves to other guys in the gym.

In Scotland we're still waiting for marriage equality.  Even though it was made law back in Feb 2014, the SNP are holding it (and countless other things) hostage for a yes vote for independence.

We're gonna just have the paperwork change from civil partnership to marriage.  That'll cost the same as a full marriage ceremony as the SNP view equality as a cash cow.

Vac-u-loc dildos/toys could solve your problem.

Mount the base to the wall, bed post or whatever, then when you're in the mood, you can grab your favorite toy and add it to the base.

Satanism is a real religion.  In many countries, it meets the same legal requirements as traditional religions for the purpose of receiving the benefits provided by the state for religions.

Correct, it has no effect on anything.

Thanks.

Yeah, live yeast is a PITA to buy for some reason.

I don't like baking with spreads so I use butter, but I haven't used lard in many, many years.  I guess I'll give it a go.

http://instinctmagazine.com/post/luxembourg-gets-marriage-equality

Luxembourg Gets Marriage Equality!

Jonathan Higbee | June 18, 2014

The European country of Luxembourg will soon provide marriage equality to its same-sex couples. In a vote of 56 - 4 (an overwhelming majority!), the Chamber of Deputies approved the legislation on Wednesday. The vote came after a last minute campaign titled "Protector of the Child" failed to garner enough homophobic support, despite the new law also providing for protections for same-sex adoption.

Luxembourg's openly-gay Prime Minister Xavier Battel cheered the new law, which goes into effect January 1, 2015.

The small nation joins fellow marriage equality EU countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, France and the UK.

A factual correction;

The UK does not have marriage equality.  Only England and Wales does.

While Scotland has passed the law that makes marriage equality legal, the ruling party is holding it (and many other things) hostage for a yes vote for independence from the UK.

Northern Ireland and the various small islands have voted against marriage equality.

I can't let this discussion go on without saying this;

Please be careful when using things like this.

GayTorrent.ru takes the privacy of it's members seriously.

Therefore do not post your real name, address, phone number, e-mail address or IP in the torrent's presentations, torrent comments or forum.

Please exchange personal information by PM only, with members you trust.

Could you post your recipe?

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/06/18/us-gay-porn-star-dies-aged-36/

US: Gay porn star dies aged 36

American gay porn star Cameron Fox has died, Falcon Studios has confirmed.

Fox, whose real name was Shane Eugene Davis, entered the gay porn industry in 1999, aged 22.

He was originally from the Texas city of Tulsa and began his career as a Falcon Studios model.

Fox left the industry in 2006 after appearing in close to fifty adult films.

During his career he won two awards.

According to Tulsa World, Fox died on Thursday 12 June.

Cause of death has yet to be revealed.

I'd love to see it when it comes out.

An American style RPG for those tired of the Japanese RPGs that dominate the xBox 360 line up.

Those of you that played Gothic on the PC in over the last 7 or so years, will know this game.  It was originally called "Gothic 4 - Risen", but due to a legal dispute the name had to be changed to just "Risen".

History/Back-story - This follows 10 to 20 years after Gothic 3.  The game when giving the back-story, just refers to Gothic 3 as "the last adventure" or "the last time you were in these lands".

You play a completely new character, which is normal for the series, who is traveling on a ship that sinks and you get washed ashore on an island with a fellow female passenger and some dead crew.  There are storms that are over taking he mainland and you and the others on the ship were hoping to get away from the storms.  While the island has it's usual amount of rain and small storms, it's nothing like what surrounds it.

SAVE OFTEN

Combat - Not only do you have to hit {duh}, but you also have to block your enemy's attacks.  Add to this, your enemies won't just fight you head on, but they will run around you and attack you as they circle.  The best thing to do is to back them into a wall and then beat the crap out of them. Of course, if they are way over your level they will just push you out of their way.

Classes - There are 3 classes; fighter/thief, warrior/some magic and mage.  For the most part, the first 2 levels of any skill {except fighter/thief can't learn some types of magic}.  Your class also depends on what armor group you will have access to later in the game.  Your class will also determine where you are supposed go for your starter "town", but you can disregard that if you feel brave.

Karma {good, bad, or ugly} - Your actions do have a bearing on how various people treat you, but it's not too bad.  By the time it really matters, you will have your own places to sleep and other traders to use.  Even if you go te bad guy route at the beginning, you can still do good things the rest of the way through.  You aren't locked into only bad quests and vice versa.

Money - Money is extremely rare until you no longer need money {last half of the last chapter}.  You have to buy everything at full price, but the traders will only ever give 20% of the value unless you piss them off, in which case you will get less or they will refuse to do business with you.  So be very cautious with your money.

Weapons - You can use any weapon you want in the game, when you get it.  The game does limit you to a small selection of weapons in the 1st chapter and adds more in each new chapter.  To use crossbows and bows, you need to buy/find arrows and bolts.  Weapons and armor do not decay.

Armor - You get your castaway rags to start the game and then about 1/3rd the way through rest of the chapters you are allowed to buy better armor.  With the exception of a soft leather helmet in a chest, there are no mobs armor pieces you get in the game.

XP - To get the most XP possible, always go back and talk to everyone involved in a quest and exhaust all possible lines of chat.  You do have to be careful of what you say to them as you may piss them off and they will refuse to speak to you further, but this is rare.

Skills - I highly recommend maxing out the skills that allow you to make your own things; ie prospecting, smiting and alchemy as they can save you lots of money because you don't have to pay the high prices and make you tons of cash.

Overall - If the game was delayed and worked on for another 6 to 9 months, I this could have been a great game.  Of course it in no way compares to the greatness of Fallout 3, nor could it due to it's design.

For the most part the story line is very good and the game has some famous actors doing the voices.

Overall, I'd have to give it a 5 out of 10.  This mainly because I hate boss battles in RPGs that are nothing but retarded mini games and not combat based.

Fallout 3 is made by Bethesda, who also makes the Morrowind series.  This is also the game that is the reason the "bridge glitch" in Oblivion is still there.  Bethesda was more concerned about getting Fallout 3 done, that they couldn't be bothered to fix a 3 year old known bug in Oblivion.

This is a true RPG.

NOTE 1:  I have played this game completely through 4 times and am currently on my fifth run through. My first go was on the PC and the rest have been on the 360.  I also have the Operation Anchorage download from XBox Live.

History/Background

In 2066, China invaded Alaska and took it from the US.  The US fought back and won a couple of years later.  In a move to prevent China, or anyone else, from taking Alaska again, the US forcibly "annexed" Canada.  This of course leads to World War 3.

Artwork/Visuals/Music

As you would expect, everything is pretty much destroyed.

Animals have mutated into some interesting, if not down right dangerous, creatures.  The only animal not to mutate into something else are dogs.

There are 2 types of humans, normal and ghouls.  Ghouls were affected by the radiation poisoning and many are pretty old, in some cases more than 200 to 300 years old.

Everything is based on the US in the 1950's, but with a twist.  The cars, buses and whatnot are all rocket powered.  You will distinctly see 1950's Cadillacs but with a rocket engines, as well as various other brands of cars.  The clothes some people wear are distinctly 1950's as well.

The music in game is played by radios dotted around and your "Pipboy 3000".  The music is blatant 1940s and 1950s on GNR Radio. They are real songs from that era.  The singers include; Bing Crosby, The Ink Spots, Billie Holiday, just to name a few.  There are other radio stations that play different stuff; ie the Government propaganda station.  Listening to the radio gives you a lot of info that is very helpful in game, so listen to it, especially GNR.

There are some flaws in the game, where you can see under rocks and in dark areas, you can see the seams where they joined the bits together.

Game play

I found game play to be very easy and straight forward.

The controls make sense and there should be very little to no confusion as to what what you need to do.  Just check the manual to see what buttons do what.

There are various difficulty settings, which like most games give you more or less experience points.

Out of the box, the game has a cap of level 20.  This changes with an expansion pack download in March.

Be careful how far you follow the main story line, as the game ends without notice and can't be played further. This too is solved by the March expansion pack download.  So if you play the game before then or don't want to get the expansion packs, do all the side quests before getting too far into the main quest line.  I usually stop after doing the "Tranquility Lane" main quest section, then finish all the side quests and clear all the areas and do a lot of exploring.

I highly recommend that you explore the entire map.  You will find some very weird and wonderful things on your travels.

You can play good, neutral or evil.  It's all up to you and your actions effect your karma rating.  This of course affects how people treat you and which humans are your enemy.  Unlike older RPGs, there is no setting to say what type of character you will be when you make your character. Your in game actions determine that.

Mobs/Monsters/Enemies

While traveling, you will run across all kinds of people and animals.

Most animals will attack you unless you have the "Animal Friend" perk. The Animal Friend perk only affects certain types of animals, though it does keep some dangerous animals from attacking you.  Death Claws {strongest animal in the game} will always attack you, regardless.

Named animals {dogs with names like Ginger, Girlie, Rex, Spot, Sparkie, etc} won't normally attack you, depending on your karma rating.  If you are friends or neutral with their owners, then the named dogs are friends/neutral with you.

There are also some named "enemies" who depending on your karma rating, won't attack you.  As an example, there are 3 named Super Mutants {Orcs} that will help you if you are a good character or attack you if you are an evil character.  If you have a perfect neutral rating, they will ignore you.

You will always have a group of humans that are your enemy, depending on your karma rating.  As expected, playing an evil character makes the toughest human enemies.

If the person/animal is blue on your radar/compass, then they are friends or neutral to you. If they are red, then kill the fuckers.

Death in game

As with all true RPGs, when you die, it's game over or start from a saved game.

The game assumes you want to use the last saved game, but you can override that and quit or use a different saved game.

Armor/Weapons/other gear

As always, you get your basic kit when you start the game and easily get more gear as you go.

You can use any gear you want at any time, except for Power Armor.  To use Power Armor, you need to have special training which is given in one of two quests.  I think there is a 3rd quest that gives you the special training, but I haven't done that, so I can't say for sure.

When you level up, you can put skill points into the various skills.  It's best to stick to one type of weapon and build up that skill.

Named items are the best of their kind in the game, so always keep them if they are suitable for your character.

Repairing Gear

You can have one of many shop owners or traveling merchants repair your gear.

The game offers the Repair skill so you can repair your own gear using gear you find on the ground, on enemies, in lockers and whatnot.

Repairing your own gear has it's ups and downs.  Say your gear is 50% damaged and you take a piece of gear that is 50% damaged.  Ok, you would think that combining them would make your gear 0% damaged still.  Nope, there is the some sort of factor {I haven't figured it out} that makes your gear end up 25% damaged still.

I mentioned that named items are the best of their kind in the game.  Well, when repairing stuff, be careful not to use them to repair another item or to make space in your inventory.

Crafting

There are some items that can be crafted in the game.  You buy/loot/steal the schematics and then get all the parts to make it.  You will need a work bench that some people will let you use or you can find them dotted around the game.  If you play a good character, you can buy one for your house.

The more schematics you have for a certain item, the better the item becomes when you craft it.  Also, the higher your Repair skill is, the higher the item's rating is.

There are some items that can be crafted that don't use schematics; ie Wonder Molerat Meat.  You need to find the place where the scientist is and read his journal to find out how to make it.

Houses

You can only have one house in the game {there are 2 to choose from} and it depends on which way you decide to go.  If you are evil, you get a penthouse suite in Tenpenny Tower and if you are good, you get one in Megaton.

You will either need to disarm the bomb in Megaton or blow up Megaton. Either choice you make, you will need an Explosives skill of at least 30.  Once you do the deed, you will get the house in which ever place.

As I mentioned earlier, you can buy things for your house from the local sales person where you live.

There are also NPCs that will let you stay with them and have a bed and a place to store your extra gear.

Healing

Besides the normal health damage, there is also radiation poisoning.

You can heal health problems by sleeping or you can buy "Stimpacks" or buy the medical kit for your house.

To heal radiation, you either buy "Rad-away", have a doctor heal you or you can buy a medical kit for your house and use that.

Using drugs other than Stimpacks, Rad-away or RadX {reduces radiation poisoning}, causes you to become addicted.  Addiction causes all drugs not to be as effective or last as long, plus it reduces your normal stats.  You either need a doctor to cure you or you have to buy a science kit for your house. The science kit can also make random drugs for you @ 1 item per day, but it can't be used again for anything until it's finished making the item.

Also, eating human flesh and "strange meat" {same thing, different name} will make you addicted. Not only does it cause the problems noted above with drugs, but it also makes other types of food/water give you less healing.

"Caps" {actually soda bottle caps} or Money

You get money in al the usual ways; looting, stealing/pick pocketing, from various containers, etc, etc.

Until you get a decent Barter skill rating, you won't make much money in the game.  There is a level up perk that you can get that gives you 25% off at all merchants.

There is also "Pre War Money" in the game that I haven't found what it is for other than to sell to merchants.  But with other factors {see below}, it does seem like it has a special purpose, as in some sort of quest.

There are a few side quests that give XP, money and a couple that also give karma.  So save these items and use them only for the quests.  Hell, if you see them being sold by merchants, buy them because you will make a hell of a lot more money than you paid.

Another thing to do to make more money and get better repairs is to invest in the traveling merchants' shops.  You need to go to Canterbury Commons and talk to Uncle Roe to do this.  I've been told that you can do all of this through Billy Creely in Megaton as well, but the dialog never comes up.  If you invest 700 caps {200 then another 500} into each of the traveling merchants, they will have uber repairs {Wolfgang the junk merchant has the best in game} that only you can beat if you max out your repair skill.  You will also get a discount at their shops.  You also get a map of their trade route, so you know where they sell stuff.  It should be noted that all 5 times I've played this game, one of the traveling merchants dies.

If you are a good character and are nice to Gob {ghoul bartender in Megaton} he will give you the best prices in the game, though he doesn't have much money to buy things from you.  You can also use him to judge your karma rating.  Here's what he says and their meaning;  "see ya soon, buddy" or "see ya soon, turkey" = good, "see ya" = neutral and "don't hit me" = evil.

Side Quests

Getting side quests depends on 2 things, your stats and your karma.

As an example, you can't get "Strictly Business" {slaver side quest} if you are good. Only neutral and evil characters can get that.

If you are evil, good NPCs won't talk to you.

Karma rating isn't the only important part, some side quests depend on your speech and Charisma stats.  If you can't convince the NPCs to trust you, then you won't get the quest.

Some quests are killed by doing other quests and exploring.  As an example, the Vault Tech headquarters quest is killed if you go into any of the vaults {other than 101, of course} before you do this quest.

Some quests are only found out by listening to the radio.  Whenever you get near a radio tower, check to see if you pipboy gives you a new signal.  You may {most likely will} have to turn on the tower using the switch next to it.

Expansion pack downloads

There will be 3 in total, at least that's what all the various sites say.  These will only be available on XBox Live and they will come once a month, starting last month {Jan 09} and finish March 09.

Each expansion will cost 800 Microsoft points {about £6}.

1. Operation Anchorage {already out as of this writing}

This expansion has it's own quest that uses a simulation based on the US invasion/retaking of Alaska.

At the end of the mission, you get some great gear and I do mean GREAT.

2. The Pitt {end of Feb 09}

You are given a quest that sends you to Pittsburgh.

3.  Untitled as of this writing {end of Mar 09}

This will increase the level cap from 20 to 30 and allow you to continue playing the game, even after you finish the main quest line.

It will also fix some of the bugs in the game.

The bad bits

Fallout 3 seems to suffer from the same problem as Oblivion, with the bridge bug.  Obviously they learned their lesson from Oblivion and didn't make any important NPCs on bridges.  I found this out when I was being chased by some Talon Mercs {I'm playing good} and I jumped off a bridge and they followed.  They disappeared into the rocks below and were still shooting at me, even though I couldn't target them because they were in the rocks.  This isn't the only example of enemies falling into the scenery, but it's the only issue where they had guns to keep shooting at me.

Bobby pins are used to pick locks, yet they are extremely rare and break easily.  Not all merchants sell them, in fact most don't, but those that do only ever have 1 to sell.

There are several cases where you get bad karma even when you take things with the owner's permission or take things from your enemies.  The old guy in Tenpenny Tower gives you his key to his safe {if you do the dialog right and have good karma} and tells you to take it all because he's too old to need it anymore, but you still get bad karma for taking it.  Similarly, killing the cannibals in Andale gives you bad karma if you take anything from the town or breaking into the shed and basement, which you have to do to find out they are cannibals.

In Big Town you have to use "pick pocket" to give the NPCs gear so they can protect themselves from the slavers and super mutants that constantly attack them.  If you get caught, they will chase you and end up getting killed by mobs in the area.  Defeats the purpose of the whole thing.  If you don't give them the gear, they die in the next raid anyway.  Catch 22.

In Little Lamp Light when you get the quest to trade stuff for fungus, you have to do each trade separately, there is no option for a "here let's trade all I have", like with other traders and quest givers.  If you do the Andale quest, you end up with 120 strange meats to trade and it takes f'ing ages to do all that.

Speaking of LLL, why do "strange meat" and human flesh have different names when they are exactly the same thing?  Is it to limit how much you can trade in LLL?  Also, the Pre War book quest only rewards you for books with a value of 1 cap, while it won't take the books valued at 5 caps, yet they have the same name.

I do feel cheated on the final "expansion" pack.  It should be free, as all it does is extend the level cap and make it so you can continue playing after you finish the main quest line, there is no content change/additions.  It also fixes bugs in the game.  Why the am I paying for bug fixes?!

UPDATE

DLC 3 was called Broken Steel and they added more game content.  Actually, they took what was supposed to be the 4th download and included it in the 3rd.  This means it was more than just a bug fix and raising the level cap.

There are 2 more downloads that have been announced for this summer;

DLC 4: Point Lookout is due on 23 June and is set in a seaside resort.  From the trailers, it looks very much like Deliverance meets post apocalypse.  This will also be the first expansion that you can leave and return before finishing the main quest line of the module.  Another change is that your henchman and dog can't follow you.  They have to wait at the transition point in the DC ruins {main game play area}.

DLC 5: Mothership Zeta is due out at the end of July.  This will take place on a spaceship, in case you couldn't guess from the name.  As with Point Lookout, your henchman and dog are left behind.  Like with the first 3 downloads, you must finish this entire module before you can return to the DC ruins.

Bethesda says to expect even more DLCs to come before the release of "Fallout - New Vegas" next year.

FO-NV is according the Bethesda, not FO4, but a completely separate game, based on the FO series.  If that makes any sense.  I don't really get is since the only difference is that that FO-NV take place in Las Vegas, not DC.  Anyway, who knows.

There's also talk of a Fallout MMORPG. However, at the moment that seems unlikely since there is a dispute over some part of the contract.

NOTE: DLC stands for "downloadable content"

RaceDriver: Grid (aka Grid 1) vs Forza 2 - my comparison on xBox 360

NOTE:  This is available on other formats, but I have the 360 version.

I'll do a compare/contrast for both games.

The Cars

Forza 2 has a wide variety of production cars and some purpose built race cars.

Grid only has purpose built race cars.

Both games require that you buy your car{s} to race in the events, while Forza 2 also gives you some unlockable cars that can be used for events.  Each event has a specific car requirement, though for the most part, you do have choices on which car to use for the event.

Customizing Your Cars

Both games allow you to customize your cars, but they do it in different ways.

Both have a wide variety of colors to choose from, though Forza 2 does have a lot more options.

In Forza 2, you have much more freedom to customize your cars, than you do in Grid.  Forza 2 allows you to choose from a variety of logos and you can move, resize and what not.

Both also have pre cut shapes. Again, Forza 2 is better at this, as you have more freedom to place, move, resize, etc the shapes/patterns.  Both allow you to color the shapes/patterns.

Grid is more rigid and limiting than Forza 2.  Part of this is due to the fact that you can get sponsors by doing well in Career Mode, so they don't want your car cluttered with logos.  When you add a sponsor, the game places the sponsor's logo in certain places on the car, depending on what ranking you set for the sponsor; ie Main, Secondary or Sub.  The placement of each sponsor's logo is different with each car you own, so it looks very professional.

Upgrade Parts

Forza 2 offers upgrade parts which increase the performance of your cars. The parts can increase various aspects of the car; ie braking, handling, acceleration and top speed.  Upgrade parts also in crease your PI or Performance Index.  This can be a problem if you aren't careful, as you may increase your braking, but still have a car that is slow as hell, but now your car is in a higher class.  This means that while you have good brakes, all the other cars in your new class are going to have faster cars, usually much, much faster and with better brakes.

Grid does not offer upgrade parts to increase the performance of your cars.

Racing Formats and Tracks

Both have the usual straight up racing {road courses, street courses, enduro, etc}, but Grid also gives you drifting in it's various formats and rookie level figure 8 demolition derby.

They share many of the same tracks, but as usual there are some differences.  Grid has the inclusion of many Drifting tracks and the two figure 8 demolition tracks.

Track wise, Grid is much more realistic.  Grid uses proper sized tracks that match the real world, while Forza 2 has tracks that are extremely narrow.  Most Forza 2 tracks only have spaces wide enough to side by side racing on the front stretch, where the start/finish line is.  The rest of the track is single car wide, maybe 1 and a half car wide, meaning if you want to pass, you will have to do it on the grass, which slows you down.

Forza 2 has many made up tracks, while all the tracks in Grid are real race tracks.

AI Cars

Forza 2 cars seem glued the perfect driving line and never falter, while though semi rare, Grid has cars that spin out and even bit more rare, cars that DNF.

Grid seems a lot better at collision avoidance than Forza 2.

Both games make it so you are the only one that suffers from damage to your car, while the AI are unaffected.

The only real trouble spot in Grid is in the demolition derby event.  The cars are bullet proof unless it's 2 AI cars wrecking each other.  If they hit you, you spin wildly out of control into the wall and likewise if you hit them.  On rare occasions, you might get lucky and wreck one of them, but that's extremely rare.

Driving Views

Forza 2 only has chase mode, meaning you are viewing everything from above and behind the car.

Grid has a variety of viewing modes, including cockpit.

Damage

Damage doesn't seem to be a factor in Forza 2 as far as car performance goes.

Grid has an extremely realistic damage model and it does affect how well your car performs.  Try tearing up a tire and see how hard it its to steer.

Road Side Objects and Debris

Hitting the wall, will damage your car in both games.

Running over debris on the track can seriously slow you down and do damage to your car in Grid, but not Forza 2.

Test Drive/Free Roam

Both games have this and there's nothing special or different about them.  You pick a car that you have unlocked, any of the starter cars or one of your Career Mode cars and run them around one of the tracks in the game.

Arcade Mode

Again, very similar.  The only difference is the tracks and racing styles {see above}.

Career Mode

This is where the everything becomes different.  Though as with all racing games, there are the pure basics; ie having to advance to unlock the higher level racing series'.  Your actions/standings in Arcade Mode have no effect on your level/status in Career or Multiplayer modes.

Forza 2 allows yourself and your car to advance by racing.  You can keep doing the same race{s} over and over to advance yourself and your car and get money.  However, this will not unlock the higher level events/race series'.  By advancing yourself, you get unlockable cars and discounts for upgrades.  By advancing your car, you get discounts for other cars and unlockable cars from that manufacturer and discounts from certain regional parts makers.

In order to advance to higher racing series, you need to at least place 3rd in all the events.  Placing 1st - 3rd also gives you unlockable cars.  The better you do, the more you get, obviously.  You can also get discounts from manufactures and parts suppliers.  When you finish an event, you get the money you won, plus bonus money depending on how well you did.

You can increase the amount of money and advancement points you win by making your car more rare, by putting upgrade parts on it.  As you level a car {by racing it}, your car also becomes more rare and you get more money/advancement points for you and the car.

Another difference is that Forza 2 gives advancement credit to you and your car in both Career and mulitplayer mode, while Grid treats them separately.  Both games do however give you cash for doing well in Multiplayer mode that can be used in Career mode.

Grid differs from F2 in that you start out with 3 rookie licenses {North America, Europe and Japan}.  In order to advance, you must gain "reputation" points.  Your goal is to advance through all 3 levels of the 3 regional licenses and get the Global License.  You must complete all 3 Pro levels in order to get the Global License.  LeMans doesn't count toward any of the regional licenses, but counts toward your overall global reputation points.  If you do the bare minimum to finish the 3 regional Pro licenses, you will not have enough points to get the Global License.  Doing LeMans at the end of each season helps a lot in getting your Global License, when you get that high.

Each time you do a race event, the game reduces how many reputation points you can get the next time you do that event.  Basically, it takes 50% - 75% of the points you won off the possible points available for the next time you do that event.  For the Rookie levels, it only takes 50% of the points away Mid level takes 66% and the Pro levels take 75% of the points away.

MultiPlayer Mode

Both games give you money for competing and doing well in multiplayer mode, that you can take into career mode and spend.

The main difference is that Forza 2 carries the points over to your Career, while Grid treats the points as separate.

Earning Money

Both games give you money for doing well in the races, obviously.  Both games reduce the possible money you can win on the easier settings and increase the money you can win on the harder settings.  Multiplayer money carries over to career mode so you can spend it.

Forza 2 gives you bonus money on how rare your car is, based on the game's preset rarity rating for each car, any upgrade parts you have and your car's reputation level.

Forza 2 also makes you pay for any damage to your car out of you winnings for that race.

Grid gives you bonus money based on your sponsors and if you meet their requirements; ie finish 1st, finish 1st with no damage, finish the race, finish in the top 5, finish in the top 3, etc, etc, etc.  If you are really good, you can have a lot of sponsor offers to choose from, to make the most money possible.  Your main sponsor pays double if you meet the requirements.

Grid gives you a bonus if your team {just you, until you hire a team mate; see below} finishes in the top 3. Of course the better you do, the bigger the team bonus will be.  However, it must be noted that until you get a team mate, you will have to be extremely lucky to beat the other teams as most have 2 drivers raking in the points for their team vs you alone for your team.  You will also get a share of your team mate's winnings {again, see below}.

Team Mates

Forza 2 doesn't have this option.

Grid allows you to hire a team mate, once you have advanced enough {completed one of the 3 rookie levels}.  Depending on the perspective team mate, depends on what he wants in his contract.  You can get one that doesn't require a signing bonus, but wants 80% of his winnings and the team's winning {your winnings are your own}.  Each perspective team mate has a pie chart and his contract requirements in the Team Mate section.  They each have their own specialty form of racing as well.  Just because they want a lot of money, doesn't mean they are any good.  One rookie wants $7 mil signing bonus and 60% of his and the team winnings, but he sucks big time, as you can see from the pie chart and read on various forums.  There are 2 extremely good team mates that you can get and won't cost you an arm and a leg, that will fill your coffers nicely, but I won't spoil the fun and name them.  Just make sure you look at all the options before you sign on a team mate.

If you decide to fire a team mate, you just go into the Team Mate section under My Team and do it.  Now if for whatever reason you decide you want a previously fired team mate back, don't be surprised if his voice is different.  The game randomly chooses one of the "national voices" for him.

It should be noted that once you hire your first team mate, you must always have a team mate from then on.  If you try to fire your team mate, but don't hire a new one to replace him, the game will just give you the old one back.  So if you don't want a team mate, don't hire one in the first place.  Be warned that the game will keep nagging you to do it.

An issue you will see on many forums is "wah, my team mate won't let me win, wah".  Shut the fuck up and fire him, then get one that sucks if it bothers you that damned much. Ya fuckin' wuss!!!!

Too Human {only available on the 360}

Anyone who knows me knows I love RPGs {and racing games}, so when I saw that Too Human was classed as an RPG, I was over the moon that we finally get another non-Japanese RPG for the 360.

Too Human is not, I repeat, is not an RPG.  It seems to fall under this new and made up term "Action - Adventure RPG".  Basically, it means it's a game that looks similar to an RPG but is, in reality, an action-adventure game.  GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

Too Human is supposed to be the first installment of a trilogy.

While other stores are claiming to have done well with Too Human, Game and Game Station are saying that it was a flop because it was marketed completely wrong and pissed off RPG fans.

I only bought Too Human because it was on sale for £10 {retail price} at my local Game store, while seeing it going for over £30 at other stores.  So I figured WTF, I'll give it a go.

If you love action-adventure games, this is a good one.  If you love true RPGs, you'll be sorely disappointed.

NOTE 1:  I have only completed the first 2 missions of 5, though I have spent more than 24 hours playing this game, according to the game stats in the options section.

History/Backdrop

The game is set sometime in the distant future when the world is in tatters and we are trying to return it to its former glory.  The world got destroyed due to the war between man and machine.

The only living plant is the "Great Tree" in, not surprisingly, the "Hall of the Great Tree".

The basis of the game is Norse mythology, but at the same time, they use many of the common RPG terms for the monsters as well as the Norse names.  Sometimes it gets really confusing, so I just stick with the RPG names.

You play Baldur {the name should be familiar to any RPG fan}, the son of Odin, and as usual in these games, it's left up to you for various reasons to save the world from the machine enemies and then return it to its former glory.

NOTE 2:  Since I can't remember all the Norse names and can't spell most of them, I'll just use the traditional RPG names that the game also uses.

Artwork

This has the best artwork I have seen in ages.  Words can't describe how utterly beautiful the scenery is in this game.

SciFi fans would wet themselves in this game.

Instructions/Manual

For the most part, the game manual is worthless, except that it does show you what the various buttons do and that doesn't help very much.  Other than that, it explains nothing.

In-game instructions are very limited and vague and leave the screen very fast.  My partner and I can't keep up with them.

There is so much in this game that isn't explained.  Like what do charms do, how do you get runes to activate so you can use them, without having to buy activated ones.

Even if you do activate the runes, what do most of them do?!  Some stuff is obvious, like "Hammer Crush +3%", but there are many others that you can't tell what they do from their names.

Game play

I found the gameplay to be very difficult for the longest time because the game gives you no help at all, even though it uses a completely new {new to me anyway} gameplay system.  There is no starter section that helps you learn how to use the controls.

In this game, you must use both the left and right sticks to control Baldur.  The left stick does the usual movements {forward, back, and side to side} while the right stick also does those movements, but it's for which way you are facing. As an example, say you are running forward and now want to keep going in the same direction, but want to face backward so you can shoot mobs {RPG slang for monsters/enemies}, use the left stick to go forward and use the right stick to make yourself face backward.  The right stick is also used for targeting, so it gets very tricky.

The right stick is also used to change targets on mob body parts, like trolls {see below}.

This game only has 1 setting and it ain't easy, I can tell you that.

Camera

The camera has a mind of its own.  In most cases, if you are just running along and the camera gets in a weird angle, just use the left bumper and it will give you the usual 3rd person view.

Some sections have a fixed camera angle and you must fight using only that and it can be very difficult to see what's going on.

In combat, the camera can swing wildly trying to keep up with you and you may be shooting at nothing, wasting ammo, and needing to reload, because you can't see what/where you are shooting at.

Saving/Save Points

The game only has 1 save point at a time.  You can overwrite this by doing a manual save.

Now here is the kicker, just because you saved at spot X, doesn't mean the game will return you to that point in the game.  You are sent back to a previous point.  Even the automatic game saves do this.

I haven't figured this out yet, but the game sends you back to a previous point in the game and you have to redo at least part of that section, depending on how far you were when you saved.  Just because a normal person would think that certain places are good for saving, doesn't mean the game agrees with you.   Be prepared to repeat a lot of sections if you don't have 14 hours to play an entire mission through or need to return to town to repair your gear.

Mobs/Monsters/Enemies

This, for the most part, should be straight forward for anyone who has ever played an RPG, FPS or action - Adventure game.  There are basic mobs, group leaders, group bosses, mini-bosses, and bosses.

The goblins, the first mobs you will meet, are very agile and will gang bang you {RPG slang for gang up on}.  You will get boxed in and can't move while they beat the crap out of you, so don't stay in any one spot for too long.

The game swamps you in most sections, so be prepared to die a few times in normal battles and a lot in bigger battles.  A few battles were wave after wave, after wave, after wave of mobs and it took about an hour to complete them, though most battles take about 10 to 20 minutes.

Some mobs have multiple "kill spots" that you must destroy to completely kill them.  Trolls, for example, have 5 or 6 "kill spots", depending on the type.  Hammer trolls have 5 spots {head, arms, and legs}, while the shooter trolls have 6 spots {ammo case, head, arms, and legs}.  As with all trolls in RPG games, don't bother with melee attacks.  Shoot out their weapon arms first, then go after their legs so they can't move as fast.

All mobs are faster than you or have some form of long-range attacks, as well as their close combat attacks. Goblins also like to jump around a lot, making you not be able to keep them targeted.

Try to keep some spare gear on hand for long battles, as you will need it.  I keep my 5 best pieces of each type of gear and some types end up completely broken by the end of the mission.  As an example, I had no usable gloves or helmets for the last 4 hours or so of the 2nd mission.  Constantly check the equipment menu to see which items need to be changed or you will only be harming yourself.

Death in game

You will die a lot and I seriously do mean A LOT.

Once you die, an angel {Valkyrie} will take you up to heaven {Valhalla} and then you will reappear back in the game.  Hopefully, you won't be dropped back in the middle of a swarm of mobs, but don't count on it.

Every time you die, the stuff you are wearing and the weapons you are currently using will degrade. You can tell, if you look close enough, by the red tint of your armor and weapon, that it's almost ready to break.  On it's broken, it will "flash" bright red.  So make sure you have spare gear to put on/use when this happens.  Don't confuse the bright green, orange, blue, etc bits with the bright red of broken gear, it's not the same thing.  Those are part of the look of the armor/weapons and don't change color.

Broken and damaged gear can be repaired at the shops {armor and weapon} in "town".  I'll talk more about this in the Armor/Weapons section.

Henchmen/Squad

You get a squad of humans to help you in the missions, which is nice, or is it?!  A lot of times, they don't come through doorways {the maker admits it's a game flaw}, so you are on your own.  They do pop up at some later point or {game maker's patch} when you go back into the game after leaving it completely.

The squad is extremely weak in all aspects, but they do have a role.   You are always the target of the mobs and many have shields that you can't get through from the front, so draw the mobs to you so that the squad is behind them and they can shoot the mobs in their unprotected backs.  True, it will seem like using spitballs to defeat a tank, but it eventually does work.

As you finish sections of the missions, you will lose squad members, permanently.  As I said previously, I've only done the first 2 missions of 5 and my 12 member squad is now down to 7.  You will get cut scenes showing you when you've lost a member for good.  The first squad member to die permanently dies in the first battle cut scene before you have any control over the game.

The squad members are carried off to heaven by angels just like you when they die and brought back, just like you.  That is unless they died permanently, of course.

Armor/Weapons/other gear

As with all games, you get your starter gear from the game. So no big deal there.

The game uses the traditional RPG color coding for gear; ie white is common, while red is the rarest. This refers to the color of the name of the item, not its actual color in-game.

You can get loot {armor, weapons, blueprints for craft, runes, charms, money, etc} from killing mobs, destroying the little red cocoon things along the side of roads and paths, and from the glowing spire things that are dotted around the world and in "cyberspace".

Armor/weapons have an "as new" rating that says how long it will last.  Below level 10 gear has a rating of 10,000, while above level 10 gear has various ratings, but none about 2,500 {except maybe red gear, which I haven't gotten so far}.  I haven't figured out how the game decides how much the gear degrades when you die, but each death takes away from the "as new" rating on death.

Unless your gear is broken, it keeps it's stats, unlike games like the Morrowind games.  If it does 100 damage when new, it will keep doing 100 damage until it breaks.

Below level 10, the gear is non-specific and you can use anything you find, as long as you meet the level requirements for the item. When you reach level 10 and not in a mission, you will be told to report to the cybergenics lab.  This where you decide on whether you want to stay a human or become a cybergen. Whichever you decide, you can only use the gear for that class from this point forward.

Above level 10 gear is a pain in the ass.  Common gear {ie cheap stuff} has a very low rating in every sense.  It's "as new" rating is 500, while the much better and much, much more expensive purple gear {2nd most rare} is 2,500.

You can get runes to increase various aspects of your stats, depending on the gear you have.  Some come with all the slots full, while others come with some or all empty for you to customize your gear.  Common gear {white} does not have upgrade slots.  As I mentioned earlier, some runes are obvious in what they do, but most are too vague for you to have any clue on what they do.

Health potions can not be bought, they drop on the battlefield from mobs or from those red cocoon things.  If you are even missing 1 hp, the game takes the whole health potion and gives you 1 hp to fill you up.

Money isn't easy to come by in the game, especially with crafting and repairs {see below}.

Repairing Gear

You have to go to or be in "town" to repair your gear.  There is a specific weapon shop and a shop to get armor and runes.  You can also buy color modules to change the color of your gear, but it requires a rune slot and that takes away from stat boosts, so why bother.

The cost of repairing your gear is how much it takes to make it back to its retail value.  Damaged and broken gear can be repaired back to new.  You must do a full repair or no repair at all.

After you complete your first mission, you will come back to "town" and from this point onwards, you can return to town as needed while in missions to repair or buy gear.  As I mentioned above, you will have to repeat sections of the mission that you already did when you come back to the mission.

Crafting

The game drops blueprints that you can use to craft items.  These items are either purple or red {2nd highest and highest}.

Crafted items are much, much better than their store-bought or mob dropped counterparts.  As an example, I have a blueprint for a purple level 14 pair of boots with an armor rating of 50, with 4 nice stat boosters.  The best in the shops or that I got from drops is a purple level 14 with an armor rating of 41 and 3 stat boosters.

Be warned, crafting is extremely expensive.  I haven't gotten any red items yet, but the purple items cost 4 times the retail value to craft.

"Bounty" or Money

Money is hard to come by in the game and you constantly have a need for it {repairs and crafting}.

You don't have to buy ammo for your pistols and rifles.

The best thing I can tell you is to explore everywhere and break all the red cocoons you see, use all the glowing spires and never leave loot on the ground.

You can also "salvage" your unwanted gear and get its current value in money.

My Overall Opinion of the Game

The game makers should have included more info in the game or in the manual and given us a starter section to learn the game controls before dropping us into a mission.

I'm not impressed with the save point and having to do huge sections over again because I needed to repair my gear or don't have time to finish the entire mission in 1 go.   Also, your squad, if they haven't disappeared because of the game bug, isn't there to help you with the mobs that have shields.  On the plus side, you do get to keep all the loot you got from previous goes at the section.

Money should be easier to come by.

Of course, there is the game bug and the maker's "fix".  They want you to completely exit the game and reenter the game to get the squad back, but this means you have to repeat an entire section of the mission.  Of course, doing this usually means the squad isn't with you unless you get lucky and find the magical spot to save and exit the game.

Regenerating health shouldn't take nearly as long as it does {20 minutes when almost empty} in this game and I'm playing as a "Bio Engineer" who is supposed to be the best/fastest at healing.  I'd hate to see what the other classes are like.  I guess the game makers did this so people could have built-in bathroom and food/drink breaks.

I must say that I honestly have mixed emotions about this game.  While in some areas, it far exceeds anything else out there {ie artwork}, it fails miserably in other areas.   As much as I hate this game most of the time, it does draw you in somehow.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 10.