nemezida
-
Постов
6512 -
Зарегистрирован
-
Посещение
Тип контента
Профили
Форумы
Календарь
Сообщения, опубликованные nemezida
-
-
La_Costa_man, спасибо: 3 арта отсюда нам очень подходят :)
Но всё же хотелось и чем-то эксклюзивно-авторским поживиться,
изготовленным специально для тесонлайнчика)
К примеру, аргонианин нашего KENNY "живет" у нас вот тут; разве плохо? ))
В общем: хотим исчо!
-
Уважаемые художники, выручайте! Для тесонлайнчика нужны арты неизведанного пока что Тамриэля: всякие пустыни типа Анеквины, а также Чернотопье и пр. В Сети их мало, а концепты разработчиков уже читателям надоели.
Только нам желательно горизонтальные и НЕ в коричневых тонах (плохо смотрится в ленте) - не сочтите это за каприз! Будем ждать, сколько потребуется, только вы уж помогите, камрады!
-
Спасибо тебе, Foxundor! Ты ОЧЕНЬ выручил )
-
Будут заказы — я напишу.
Читатели очень ценили "сравнительный" паблик по Обливиону и Скайриму. Может, напишешь "Повесть о двух городах"?
Взять 1 город из ТЕС4 и один из Скайрима, сравнить: как выглядят, как ощущаются, как населены; как там можно проводить время; что собой представляют NPC. Архитектура, торговля, "озеленение"! Краски, звуки, цены - да даже качество мостовой под ногами, да даже ночное освещение)))
Не помешало бы и обоснование, почему ты выбрал именно эти города (оба любимые / оба северные (Брума, например) / оба - первые города, в которых ты оказался в игре и пр.)
По-моему, ты бы смог шикарно сделать такое. Как тебе? ))
P.S. Я б сама такое с удовольствием написала, но - не успеваю.
Это вообще, по-моему, могло бы стать и темой писательского конкурса -
всё ж лучше, чем выдумывать навороченные концепции...
-
Хм, и мне остаётся только взять Shadow Key.
Спасибо тебе огромнейшее! А что ты решил насчет авторских статей?))
-
Беру Даггерфол)
:dance3: -
The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II - Daggerfall Review - ВЗЯЛ АЛЕКС ХОГ, СПАСИТЕЛЬ КВАТЧА ВТ
Someone has finally returned to the RPGs of the old school and created an adventure that will take even the most experienced gamer months to unravel.
It's been a long time coming, but someone has finally returned to the RPGs of the old school and created an adventure that will take even the most experienced gamer months to unravel in a world incredibly full of life and experience. That someone is Bethesda and the product is The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall, the follow-up to the popular TES: Arena. From start to finish, Daggerfall shows itself to be an epic product that surpasses the time-crunching power of even the legendary RPGs of old.
At its core, Daggerfall is a well-written adventure game with solid role-playing systems plopped into what is basically an action engine. Players design their character using a creation routine that is second to none, choosing from one of 18 classes that includes knight, warrior, healer, assassin, and sorcerer, or design their own with a specialized sub-creation system. Those who aren't into RPG statistics can let the computer make the choice by answering a moral quiz (à la Ultima IV) that selects the class most appropriate to the player's personality. Once that's finished, players take control of their alter-ego through a first-person interface that in many ways resembles the Ultima Underworld series. From here, as if actually transported to another realm, players are free to do whatever they wish, with computer response mirroring that of the real world.
Although Daggerfall does sport an absorbing storyline (several, in fact), it's the potential for adventure outside of the standard plot that is so exciting. No longer forced to play the way The Man wants, we are now free to ignore the pleadings of the princess, wander off, and get involved in other complex tales that change and evolve in response to our actions! Here lies the greatest strength and weakness of Daggerfall. Those who are looking for an adventure that follows a straight path, that they can sit down and solve, are bound to be terrified (and annoyed) by the entropic nature of this game. Since, as in the real world, events take place at certain times and in certain places, it's also very easy for players to stray accidentally from the beaten path, just because they decided to stop for a bite to eat. It's also easy to get wrapped up in struggles between the game's various guilds without even meaning to. If you join a guild, you instantly make several new friends and even more enemies, and open up new adventure opportunities. The sheer size of this product is staggering, and even the most open-minded player is certain to be overwhelmed at times by the thousands of people to talk to, the scores of weapons and spells to keep up with, the hundreds of books to read, and the vast amount of landscape to cover in the game. To play Daggerfall successfully requires one of two mind-sets: to remain ever-vigilant, taking notes and going exactly when and where you're told; or to relax and let life take you where it will.
Daggerfall is not without its problems. By creating such a large world, Bethesda must have made it impossible for play testers to even scratch the surface of the play possibilities. Players who are determined to push the envelope - crawling, jumping, and swimming into every crevice of the landscape - are sure to find themselves stuck between two polygons with no way to continue except for suicide. Along these same lines is the game's tendency to crash occasionally for what seems to be no reason at all. Patches are bound to be forthcoming, but for now my recommendation is to save early and save often.
For those willing to exercise a little patience with its quirks, Daggerfall will deliver some of the most entertaining and absorbing adventures available. Those who are even the slightest bit put off by subtle storylines or RPG statistics, however, will probably find the game totally unbearable. The bottom line is this: RPGs have always attracted a fanatical core group, and this title was designed with those hard-core gamers in mind. For the rest of you, play another round of Quake and leave the adventuring to the pros.
-
The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey Review - взял Foxundor (слава ему и Стендарру!!)
Technological hurdles cripple the gameplay, making Shadowkey little more than a failed attempt to simulate the Elder Scrolls PC experience.
The Good
• Huge world
• Lots of content
• Several classes to choose from
• Bluetooth party play system
• Great sound.
The Bad
• Horrible pop-up
• Janky combat
• No map system
• Character classes too similar
• Poor control.
In its several iterations on the PC, Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series has provided extremely immersive single-player role-playing by employing the first-person perspective typical of both Might and Magic games and traditional PC shooters. The Elder Scrolls' most recent incarnation, Morrowind, was a terrific success on both the PC and Xbox, so it's therefore not terribly surprising to see the series expanded to other platforms. The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey is Bethesda's N-Gage debut, and it adheres pretty closely to the series' conventions. In fact, Shadowkey makes few compromises to adapt to its new format, and it suffers as a result. Technological hurdles cripple the gameplay, making Shadowkey little more than a failed attempt to simulate the Elder Scrolls PC experience.
Shadowkey's story is purposely unremarkable, because, like its predecessors, the game lets you play the hero any way you choose. You combat a nondescript evil that "lurks in the shadows," as the game's opening scroll professes, and this great scourge can be attacked from a variety of angles. Shadowkey's major strength is its open-ended nature, which makes you the master of your own fate.
When you start the game, you'll be given a choice between several character classes and races. At least at the outset, these choices have very little bearing on gameplay, because you'll invariably begin with an iron dagger, a healing potion, and a blaze spell, which is essentially a magic missile. Apart from stat differences and player model variations, character class really doesn't affect the game a great deal.
Although you'll be guided on a series of tutorial missions, during which you'll mostly kill bandits and mutant rats, you'll immediately have the opportunity to travel anywhere you'd like in Shadowkey's huge world. Unfortunately, the lack of a functional map and the extremely short draw-in distance combine to make navigation very difficult. Additionally, the pop-up is so severe that you'll never be able to see a path until you're walking on it. This problem was addressed by enshrouding the game in a misty brume. A similar approach was taken with the indoor environments, which are all incredibly dark. Myriad sconces line the walls, but, as the game's engine isn't designed to support multiple light sources, you'll actually have to get right next to a lamp before you can see it. It's surreal to walk across an expanse of near blackness only to find that you were 10 feet away from sweet luminescence. All this results in pretty poor general playability.
Shadowkey shares its brethren's focus on exploration, but it doesn't give players the tools to properly explore. Imagine a version of Morrowind in which you could only see 10 feet in front of your character. If you don't think that sounds like a very appealing prospect, you're right. These are the types of considerations Bethesda should have made when adapting its game to the N-Gage, which simply doesn't have the resources to display large, three-dimensional environments.
Furthermore, the game's combat system is severely flawed due to inadequate control and broken collision detection. You'll have to use the keypad (in place of a mouse) to line up blows, which land or not depending on the computer's capricious fancy. Spells can be especially unreliable, because even scoring a direct hit isn't an assurance that the creature in question will take damage. When you hit an enemy, he'll sometimes turn red, along with his wound. Other times, he'll stand motionless but will still take damage. In some cases, however, he simply won't take any damage at all. And since combat is the bread and butter of Shadowkey's gameplay, these issues are pretty severe.
Because the Elder Scrolls games have always been single-player, one of Shadowkey's most intriguing features is its Bluetooth party play. Two can play cooperatively to complete missions. However, only the host will advance as a result of this work. The other player is relegated to providing combat support, although the number of enemies remains the same. This is not an especially refined system, but it does give you a chance to check out your friends' player models, which represent graphical highlights for Shadowkey.
Shadowkey features some of the same soaring musical score found in Morrowind, which comprises impassioned play on Renaissance minstrel instruments. You'll definitely feel like you're in a land where words are perhaps spelled with extraneous e's and where people feast on oversized drumsticks. So, the sound evokes atmosphere and typifies a solid effort.
The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey falls prey to its own ambition, which sounds a lot like an explanation for what turned some of the game's villains to the evil lifestyle. The game has simply been insufficiently adapted to the N-Gage's technology. As a result, what could have been a long and engaging experience will instead prove rather frustrating.
Editor's note 12/09/04: The review originally stated that the game features multiplayer support for up to four players, which is incorrect. GameSpot regrets the error.
-
И я тут малость того... распоясался с образностью и сленгом, сойдёт?
ЗЫ: Неми, вы бы выложили несколько текстов "про запас" - и вам удобно, не надо будет ходить по разделам проверять, где что готово, и нам вас дёргать в любое время не придётся. Или вдруг кто-то стесняется попросить, а увидит бесхозный и лёгкий текст и ухватится.
1) Алекс Хог, ты офигенен ^__^
2) Я щас принесу те 2 текста, которые уже 2 недели не разбирают лорщики (у них щас, видно, куча своей работы, без обид)
-
С радостью сообщаю, что 1 октября намечается новый художественный конкурс.
Ура, вот вы молодцы!
Дарин: вот да, НЕ участвуй!
Они опять набИгут со своими анатомическими атласами, будут тебя в них тыкать! =\
Они тебя всё время пытаются куда-то "встроить" в общий строй, как бы пытаются забить гвоздь, который высовывается!
Зачем тебе эти неблагодарные и сварливые художники? ;)
Лучше напиши нам классную статью: читатели будут ТАК довольны ^__^
-
Ещё раз повторяю - кроме переводов действительно ничего не нужно? Серьёзно, когда это на ФР перестали любить родной эксклюзив контент, а?
Нужно, нужно! Ты извини, пожалуйста, что тебе пришлось повторять такой важный вопрос!))
Нам бы очень пригодились какие-нибудь тематические авторские статьи по одиночным играм серии:
проанализировать один-два-три аспекта игры. Например: левелинг в Обливионе и Скайриме.
Или систему квестов в последних трех играх серии... Но именно не ОБЩИЙ обзор, обо всем понемногу,
а вот такая полуаналитическая статья по конкретной тематике.
Если б ты написал - было бы чудесно: ты шикарно пишешь же))
Только я еще раз напоминаю, что фанфики нам не очень: формат не тот...
Если тебе для вдохновения требуется "художественная часть",
то ее желательно свести к вступлению и заключению.
Пожалуйста, напиши: выручай! Очень будем ждать))
АлексХог, насчет программы сотрудничества:
этот куцый и нетворческий "переводческий" формат - он временный и вынужденный, до ноября,
а потом будет куда разнообразней и веселей, вот увидишь! Вам ОЧЕНЬ понравится ^^
-
Сорри за мультипостинг, но вот же:
дорогие лорщики, спасибо вам! Вы - лучшие))
Благодаря вам тесонлайнчик опять первым в России перевел и опубликовал очередные Q&A, as usual ^^
-
вне - вольница из именно кучи стронгхолдов)) Это же
ок, ты меня убедил: "куча" так "куча" =)
И еще, дорогие лорщики: огромнейшее спасибо Сильвиусу, который сделал львиную часть этого перевода! )) dance
UpD: Boma Kuro, как всегда - огромнейшее тебе спасибо!
И насчет Лейнлина/Хаммерфелла, и за карту:
мы ее поместим в публикацию, читатели будут довольны! ^^
-
Неми, ну будет уж за одно и то же благодарить. На четвёртый раз уже неудобно)
"Неудобно, когда сын на соседа похож" (с)
А поблагодарить за такую шикарную работу - очень даже удобно)
Вот, держите еще, дорогие писатели:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles Review - СНОВА ВЗЯЛ АЛЕКС ХОГ!
Shivering Isles adds more than enough new and interesting content to give you a great reason to dive back into the world of Oblivion.
The Good
A large, twisted, and beautiful new world to explore lengthy main quest and plenty of side quests to keep you busy some of the more cleverly designed quests are great new items and crafting system to give you more loot than ever.
The Bad
The Prince of Madness is insanely annoying simplistic fetch quests aren't very exciting.
As if to answer the decades-old query posed by Iron Maiden in the single "Can I Play With Madness," Bethesda Softworks brings you The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, an expansion in which you most definitely can play with madness. Shivering Isles is an expansion to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and introduces a new world along with a lengthy major quest. It also includes several minor quests, new spells and items, and dozens of completely insane characters with which to interact. The theme of the new world is madness, which is manifested in the batty characters and the twisted yet beautiful landscape. Aside from the new realm, there isn't anything in this expansion that will significantly alter or enhance your experience with the rest of the game. So if you're content with Oblivion, you won't miss out on any integral updates if you decide to pass on Shivering Isles. However, even though Shivering Isles isn't a must-have expansion, it's an excellent value based on the amount of content alone, and a great excuse to revisit an already excellent game.
The place looks nice, but it's full of dangerous creatures.
The place looks nice, but it's full of dangerous creatures.
Once you've installed the Shivering Isles content, you can access it at any time with any character, regardless of your progress in the rest of the game. Soon after starting, you'll hear a rumor about a mysterious portal that suddenly appeared on an island in Niben Bay. As any adventurer worth his salt knows, the only thing to do with a mysterious portal is throw caution to the wind and dive right into it. You're greeted by an oddly dressed fellow named Haskill who explains that you've entered a portal to the Shivering Isles, which is the realm of the Daedric Prince of Madness, Sheogorath. The world is divided into the colorful, eccentric realm of Mania and the dark, paranoid realm of Dementia. The two different realms and their inhabitants share a less than harmonious, though not overtly hostile, relationship. The ruler of both realms is Sheogorath. It's up to you to act as Sheogorath's servant to carry out his delusional demands and rise in rank in the Court of Madness.
For the most part, serving as the right-hand man of the Prince of Madness is just as fun as it sounds. The prince will send you on a lengthy series of quests, and as you complete them, you'll gain rank, eventually rising all the way up to claim the title of Madgod of the Shivering Isles. Most of the quests involve crawling through huge, complex dungeons to gather artifacts and defeat enemies. Some of the quests are interesting and cleverly designed. In one early quest, you have to activate an ancient dungeon that serves as a trap for wayward adventurers who find their way into the isles. Once the dungeon is activated, you get to watch as a party explores it. You can press buttons to either send monsters to kill the adventurers or play tricks on the adventurers to drive them all insane. It's an entertaining way to indulge your sadistic side, which is heartily encouraged in the realm of Sheogorath.
Later in the story, the game resorts to sending you off on a seemingly endless string of simplistic fetch quests, which do get tiresome. It doesn't help that most of the dungeons you explore look identical, which will give you a strong sense of déjà vu. To help break up the main story quest, there are plenty of side quests you can pick up by talking to people in the two main towns. Many of these quests aren't particularly involved, but they're offbeat and weird enough to provide a nice diversion after hours spent in dungeons. You'll meet one gentleman who is afraid to sleep indoors because he thinks the walls will collapse on him, so he commissions you to find him a suitable place to sleep outside. Another man hates his life but doesn't want to commit suicide, so he hires you to kill him and make it look like an accident. At the very least, these quests lend a bit more character to the world by having you interact with the various interesting people who are each a bit crazy in one way or another.
The Carroll-esque world of the Shivering Isles is an entertaining place for a while, but after immersing yourself in a world of madness, you might start to feel a bit touched yourself. Most of the characters are harmlessly nutty, but some of them are downright annoying. Sheogorath himself is one of the most annoying characters you'll find in any video game. The prince almost always talks by shouting and rarely ever makes any sense. Screaming incoherently in a Scottish accent wasn't funny in Austin Powers, and it's not funny here. The prince's voice is so grating, and his dialogue is so inane, you'll probably want to either turn down your sound or click through the conversation as quickly as possible. On the other hand, Chancellor Haskill is a great character whose subtly sardonic tone and dry wit are often quite funny. The rest of the inhabitants fall somewhere between the two extremes, and most of the characters you meet are entertaining in their own ways.
The world of the Shivering Isles also takes on the physical characteristics of the scrambled psyche of the prince. The landscape looks quite different from anything you'll find in Tamriel or Oblivion, and it's all very pretty. From the starry pink skies to the towering phosphorescent mushrooms, there are plenty of great views to admire. But beneath the psychedelic sheen is a world full of monsters waiting to tear you limb from limb. You'll have to fight giant insects, crawling trees, primitive humanoid amphibian creatures, and an entire army of knights known as The Order. Most of the enemies look good, animate well, and put up a respectable challenge in a fight.
To combat all those enemies, you will get new weapons, armor, and spells. If that's not enough, you can make your own weapons and armor by collecting materials and recipes. You can collect amber or madness ore and take it to the blacksmith in Mania or Dementia, respectively. Using the material, you can have the blacksmith forge powerful weapons and armor. The items might not replace your current gear, but at the very least, these forged items will fetch a high price from any merchant. Of course, in addition to forged items, there are plenty of treasures for you to discover in the Shivering Isles' many dungeons. By the time you're ready to leave the Shivering Isles for the greener fields of Tamriel, you'll likely be a very wealthy hero. In addition to the new items, there are a few new magic spells in the expansion, including an amusing spell that lets you summon Chancellor Haskill to ask him for advice.
You'd think the Prince of Madness would be a cool guy, but instead he's just very, very annoying.
You'd think the Prince of Madness would be a cool guy, but instead he's just very, very annoying.
Shivering Isles looks fantastic and runs fairly well most of the time, although the stuttering frame rate problem from Oblivion carries over into the expansion as well. On the PC the game also has some stability issues. The game crashed multiple times on two different systems, and locked up one system several times throughout the course of the game.
It will take you a good 20 hours to complete the major quest line, but there's plenty more to do afterward. With all the side quests to complete and territory to explore, you could easily spend 30 or 40 hours or more losing your mind in Shivering Isles, and you'll find that your time there is well spent. The quests, characters, and world in Shivering Isles are all as creative and intriguing as in the rest of the game. Oblivion was huge before, but now it's bigger and better than ever.
-
И вот эти разъяснения гляньте, плиз, уважаемые лорщики: это верно сформулировано?
Ригламета – праздник, который отмечают в Хаммерфелле и в Лейнлине.
Считается, что жители Лейнлина, поклонявшиеся даэдра, за свое богохульство были превращены в гарпий.
-
Я бы перевёл так:
"Благодаря соглашению с Ковенантом Даггерфола, Орсиниум отошёл к оркам Ротгара, и они теперь восстанавливают и заселяют его. Южный Ротгар под контролем Короля Курога из Орсиниума, но к северу от города регион всё ещё дикая вольница кучи независимых крепостей."
Я перевела так:
В результате договора, заключенного с Ковенантом Даггерфолла, Орисинум был возвращен оркам Ротгара, и они перестраивают и обживают его. Южная часть Ротгара управляется королем Курогом, но северные районы города находятся под контролем разных крепостей.
Хотя там м.б. и "к северу от города"... Вот черт =\
Ты верно отметил, что они "восстанавливают", а не "перестраивают"; про "дикую вольницу" - тоже классно, только вместо "кучи" придется написать "нескольких". И вот: глянула на оба наши варианта - знаешь, что? Наверное, слово "гОрода" я просто уберу - и будет норм: "но к северу регион..." и пр.))
Спасибо тебе!^^
Boma Kuro, судя по тексту - не к Орсиниуму, вот гляди:
Southern Wrothgar is under the control of King Kurog of Orsinium, but north of the city the region is still a patchwork of strongholds.Хотя, может, они опять напутали - им не впервой же...
-
Спасибо вам! А как его писать-то правильно: Ротгар или Вротгар?
Конечно, "Ротгар" куда лучше звучит, но это будет правильным - или нет?
И еще: исходя из того контекста, который я запостила выше,
это ЧТО за территория конкретно: город? регион?
Из ваших пояснений я поняла, что регион, но
они же там пишут "north of the city" применительно к Ротгару этому...
Помогите еще раз, плиз! Только мне бы поточнее!))
-
Дорогие лорщики, пожалуйста, срочно поясните: что за Wrothgar такой?
Это из последних Q&A Зенимакса, вот контекст:
Thanks to the treaty with the Daggerfall Covenant, Orsinium has been restored to the Orcs of Wrothgar, and they are rebuilding and reoccupying it. Southern Wrothgar is under the control of King Kurog of Orsinium, but north of the city the region is still a patchwork of strongholds.Гуглила, но что-то не нашла =\
-
http://pic.fullrest.ru/upl/kaIUmfw2.png
Спасибо Герою Кватча Алексу Хоггу,
который закрыл врата Обливиона под Скинградом
и подготовил вот эту публикацию!
-
Конечно, можете без спроса брать, только ник укажите и всо =)
Мы обязательно будем давать ссылочку на твою девиантовскую галерею, спасибо тебе! *___*
-
Ту-ру-ру!!! (Это были серебряные трубы)
Спасибо тебе, Иерихончег! ^^
-
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/257/7/7/nightingale_khajiit_by_kennyfull-d6ma11w.jpg[/url]
KENNY, браво!! Можно нам взять это для тесонлайнчика для очередной публикации про Темное Братство?? (это будет через неделю). Разреши, плиз))) dance
-
The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal Review - взял Иерихончег))
When combined with the original game, Morrowind Tribunal's complementary features make an excellent role-playing game even better.
Even though they are becoming increasingly common, expansion packs for role-playing games don't generally offer a rewarding experience for anyone other than the most devoted fans of the original game. By the end of a role-playing game, your character has typically developed great abilities and explored vast territories in order to dispatch a nigh invincible foe in an epic confrontation. Most RPGs offer sufficient closure in this regard, so expansion packs often end up diluting the original experience by tacking on a few anticlimactic quests and offering several new absurdly powerful magic items that unbalance the gameplay. The Elder Scrolls: Tribunal avoids most of these problems by offering an experience that is both sufficiently novel and interesting and yet also integrates well into the Elder Scrolls setting.
Recently, RPG developers have become more adept at making worthwhile expansion packs. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction improved the graphics of the original game, offered new and diverse characters, and concluded the main plot of the series. Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal was even more satisfying, since it offered a lengthy plot that logically concluded that series of games. Those expansion packs were so successful because they sensibly expanded upon and resolved the plots of the original games, while previous RPG expansions had just tossed in a few extra quests that didn't necessarily resolve the main series' plot. Tribunal, on the other hand, makes a compromise by letting you explore its areas either before or after resolving Morrowind's main plot. Since Tribunal's plot ties in well with the lore revealed in the original game, it's a design approach that works reasonably well, even though a direct continuation of Morrowind's main plot would probably have been more satisfying.
Tribunal is set entirely in Mournhold, the capital city of the Imperial Province of Morrowind. Mournhold and its political intrigues were frequently described by characters and texts in the original game. The royal family of Mournhold was the subject of several books that could be found in Morrowind, and the recently deceased former monarch was a member of one of the three dark elf "great houses" your character could join. Finally, Mournhold is also the residence of Almalexia, one of the three mortal heroes who created the tribunal after ascending to divinity. Since one of the most appealing aspects of the original game was exploring its expansive geographical areas, it's somewhat surprising that the Tribunal expansion confines your adventures to the relatively small setting of the municipality. The city contains the royal palace and four separate districts, each of which only consists of a handful of buildings or landmarks, and the entire area is populated by only a few dozen non-player characters--while the original game had more than 2,000 NPCs. However, there are plenty of things to do in the more-confined setting, because virtually every character you meet plays a role in one or more quests. While the original game offered a fairly free-form world to explore, Tribunal provides a more-focused, story-driven experience, which may disappoint players looking for more open-ended exploration.
The events in Tribunal revolve around unveiling the true nature of the threat spawned by the simmering rivalry between the Imperial Monarchy and Almalexia. The main plot is conveyed through solving quests for one or both of those rivals, and scripted events are used more frequently and effectively in Tribunal than in Morrowind. There are also quite a few ancillary quests, several of which have goals that are more novel than the standard "fetch this" or "kill this monster" quests in the original game.
In The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal, you'll get the opportunity to play at being a matchmaker, spy on the unfaithful, and even assume a dramatic role in a rendition of a play that was referred to in the original game. The expansion's quests are generally quite involved, although it's disappointing that there are no additional guild or faction quests and that Morrowind's main themes, such as the return of sixth house and the disappearance of the dwarves, aren't advanced in any material way. There are a number of gameplay improvements that can be carried over to the main game, but otherwise, Tribunal is a separate and discrete experience.
The graphics in Tribunal are on par with the excellent visuals in the original game, but the expansion's sound effects and music are less memorable. Then again, since most of Tribunal is set in relatively enclosed environments, the game generally runs more smoothly and at higher frame rates. The ability to add notes to maps improves an already excellent auto-mapping feature, and the journal has now been reorganized to let you quickly view all relevant notes for each quest. If you've explored a lot of the main game already, it can take almost an hour when you first install the game to reorganize the journal notes by quests. The revised journal didn't correctly note the completion of a few older quests, but it greatly enhances the journal's utility overall. Like several of Tribunal's enhancements, it's a feature that will be better appreciated by those who haven't already played through the main game.
In addition to offering more-useful note-taking and mapping functions and providing a more story-driven experience, Tribunal addresses some of the original game's issues. An advanced character who has completed Morrowind and is equipped with powerful artifacts and maximized attributes will be able to quickly advance through Tribunal's areas, but the expansion is still definitely more difficult than the original game, even without adjusting the difficulty slider that was added in a game patch. The expansion also adds several new monster types, as well as a few more-difficult adaptations of creatures from the original game. In addition to the new fauna, Tribunal provides several new flora types and new alchemy ingredients. Tribunal is still a single-character game, but you can now hire a mercenary companion, and the followers are now much quicker and more capable of tracking your movements. You can also purchase a few pets, including pack rats capable of lugging loot around for you. There are three different types of pets, and you can have up to three of each of them with your character, which actually lets you assemble quite a troop, especially since you can also have several human companions join you. However, it's difficult to keep the whole party assembled, even with the expansion's improved companion pathfinding. Scribs, which are the most entertaining pets, consistently get lost in deep water, so they're better suited to traveling through the open territories of the main game than the waterlogged dungeons in Tribunal.
Judged as a stand-alone product, Tribunal doesn't have many of the features that made Morrowind so appealing. It's more linear, it's less open-ended, and it doesn't offer faction and guild quests so you can role-play a variety of character types. On the other hand, it offers more-complex story-driven quests, a plot that ties in well with the setting's established lore, a greatly improved journal, and the opportunity to assemble a group of adventuring companions. When combined with the original game, The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal's features make an excellent role-playing game even better.
-
Sylvius, низкий вам поклон!! Извините, что дергаем вас -
знаем, что у лорщиков всегда работы полно, но вот же: аврал у нас ((
Заказы от других разделов
в Канцелярия Академии искусств
Опубликовано
Уже бегу: вот борщик, хотите? Со сметаной, с чесночком))
The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard Review
The excellent story, unique puzzles, and addictive swordplay help make Redguard an immensely rich and enjoyable adventure.
With Redguard, Bethesda Softworks set out to create the "swashbuckling action-adventure epic of a lifetime." While technical glitches and clunky controls prevent the game from attaining such a lofty goal, the excellent story, unique puzzles, and addictive swordplay help make Redguard an immensely rich and enjoyable adventure.
You play Cyrus, a battle-scarred mercenary on self-imposed exile from his home in Hammerfell. After hearing that your sister Iszara has vanished from the war-torn island of Stros M'kai, you are determined to find and rescue her despite the long-standing friction between you. Attacked by pirates on your way to the island and faced with an Imperial occupation force upon your arrival, you begin to realize that things are not at all well on Stros M'kai. Even worse, you eventually discover that Iszara was caught up in the recent troubles on the island, and you become embroiled in a well-developed plot involving rebellion, revenge, and, of course, lots of good old-fashioned swashbuckling bravado.
The game is played from a third-person perspective and, as a result, suffers from the ever-problematic floating-camera woes. For most of the game the camera angle is just fine, but on more than a few occasions I found my view completely blocked because I happened to be too close to a wall. This problem was especially annoying during two of the game's most important conflicts (one with the dark elf Dram and one with the wormy N'Gasta). To its credit, Redguard does allow you to customize the amount of camera glide and the camera combat angle, but this only helps a little when you have to fight your way out of a tight corridor.
While you do have to draw your sword and fight quite a few blackguardly knaves in this game, it is still very much an adventure game. The heart of Redguard lies in its intricate and often unique puzzles. For example, that sword won't help much when you run into the springy mushrooms of the goblin caverns or the revolving hallways of the catacombs. A few of the puzzles - the dwarven scarab in particular - are exceptionally challenging, while others are fairly basic. For the most part, the puzzles are very well integrated into the plot. Some are based almost solely on your agility, and these are the ones that are most likely to cause frustration.
Simply put, the controls in this game are poor. You can use a gamepad or joystick to play the game, but neither is very intuitive. Unfortunately, your only other option is the keyboard. Why there is no mouse control is beyond me. Timing and executing even the simplest of jumps with the keyboard is quite a challenge, while a number of necessary tasks (jumping onto a rope, climbing on top of objects) are more difficult than they should be in several areas. Worse, sword fights often degenerate into a key-mashing mess as you try to sidestep, defend, and attack in quick succession. If nothing else, Bethesda should have included separate keys for sidestepping left and right.
For much of the game, however, you'll spend the bulk of your time talking to the island's residents about the strange goings-on and inquiring about your sister's whereabouts. This is where the game both shines the brightest and disappoints the most. On the positive side, the game offers a slew of NPCs to talk to, each with an exhaustive list of topics to discuss. Fortunately, the game tracks any important comments in an automated log because you'd be hard-pressed to remember even one-tenth of what these folks tell you. Each NPC has a distinct personality and conversational style, and that helps convey a sense of immersion in the gameworld. The dialogue is well written, with a few conversational gems here and there.
Unfortunately, a great many of the NPC voices are horribly annoying - or just plain goofy. One guy, Favis the bell ringer, sounds as if he stepped out of the old Fat Albert cartoon, while the blue-bonneted Mariah is certain to be remembered as one of the most hated computer game NPCs of all time (perhaps in recognition of this, Bethesda built in an Easter egg method for venting your feelings towards Mariah). Don't even get me started about the Daedra Lord.... During sword fights (which are a lot of fun, even with the control problem), your opponents will taunt you and react to your attacks. Most of these comments are pretty good (I still chuckle at the guy who yells "Damn your eyes!"), though they can get repetitive in a hurry. The big bad governor is the worst offender of repetitive taunts, as he basically just tells you to "Reconsider your options, knave" over and over.
By far the most annoying aspect of NPC conversations, however, is the fact that the game tends to distort all speech when you use a PCI sound card. Most likely, this has to do with Redguard's use of a dated DOS core inside of a Windows 95 "wrapper." Whatever the cause, the result is a stuttering sound similar to an old elementary school film projector that's acting up. The problem comes and goes unpredictably, and, although I honestly didn't really mind it much once I turned on the subtitles, it is certain to annoy the hell out of some gamers. As I wrapped up this review, Bethesda indicated that they may have discovered the source of the problem, but that it still may not be patchable.
Though the graphics in Redguard do not compare to those in games like Half-Life or Heretic II, the 3Dfx-enhanced XnGine looks awfully good. The software renderer, on the other hand, is not very impressive, but it is the only option for non-3Dfx users. Since the game still relies on DOS code for its renderer, a Direct3D version or patch is unlikely.
Still, the level of detail in the game is impressive. The port city, the surrounding countryside, and the various other sites you'll visit are all well designed and immersive. You are free to wander wherever you choose, and, except for a few key plot points, you can visit important locations in just about any order. Also, the game locations are nicely varied, and some, such as the Dwarven Observatory, are simply breathtaking. The game does suffer from clipping problems, and I did find a few "black hole" spots (the infamous areas from Daggerfall where players fell through the floor into a black abyss), but overall the world of Redguard looks very good. Nice lighting effects, ample and good-looking foliage (so often overlooked), and stunning architecture are some of the game's graphical highlights. NPC models and textures are decent but pretty plain on the whole. One character - the Boba Fett-like Dram - stood out as being particularly cool looking.
The ultimate game of swashbuckling adventure? Not quite, but Redguard is an impressive adventure game and one that ranks among the year's best. While the sound problems and the awkward controls will turn off a number of players, patient gamers with a penchant for puzzles and Errol Flynn movies will find a lot to like in the intricate world of Redguard.
Gamespot, 18 December 1998