Yeah I understand the difference between the two, it's just that bloom seems no different to 'none' and HDR is more than a little zealous at times. I just wondered what you people preferred. There's a side of me that prefers the more consistent but flat looking bloom/none but HDR looks gorgeous when it gets it right; the game looks much richer in HDR but damn, does it get bright at times. Sometimes it looks like the bomb has droppped again.

In the end I decided to ditch darker nights/dynamic weather but clung on to the compass mod (which removes NPC and red hostile ticks). Now I'm carefully trudging about, scouting ahead and using my eyes and ears instead of locking on to the compass to check for enemies. The only problem now (and it's one that's present in Morrowind and the Penumbra games) is that the music changes to DRAMATIC ACTION music when a hostile spots you, even before you've noticed it yourself. I don't want to turn the music off because it adds a lot to the atmosphere when I'm a-wanderin' but that sort of sound design has always been a bugbear of mine: "Oh the DRAMATIC ACTION music has come on! Something must have spotted me!"

Anyway, I'm just being pernickety here because I've sunk a fair amount of time into it since my last post and not even thought about pursuing the main plot. Too many distractions! Last week I had a 6/7 hour binge on it, which I haven't done with a game in a long time, it felt great!

I've journeyed as far as Northwest Senaca Metro station and met up with Murphy after dumping some Sugar Bombs somewhere out there to make room for other seemingly more useful stuff. Thankfully I tracked them down and got my recompense for the effort. I also found The Family and got Ian West out peacefully, lets hope he doesn't eat anyone else. I'm not sure, but it looked like things could easily go awry down in The Family's hideout. I'm also glad I spec'd in Explosives because all the Frag Mines and Grenade traps through those tunnels came in useful once they were disarmed.

In other news, I'm hunting down parts for the Shishkebab and Bottlecap Mine schematics. I've just come across Big Town and their Super Mutant problems which I intend to sort out. Poor bastards. Seriously, I'm like the Jesus of The Wastes. I'm not sure who said it, I think it was either Spike or Kay in the STALKER thread (possibly on one of the borkened pages), but there's a real sense of being the only shred of hope some of these people have. There was one bust up hut I went into at Arefu where an angry guy told me to piss off in no uncertain terms while his wife greeted me jovially and offered to feed me. She was awfully nice considering the circumstances. Then she started talking about her beautiful front garden and the penny dropped. I found that really tragic and it got right under my skin.

I raided the Super Duper Mart for Moira while lying through my back teeth about the Minefield mission (I still gave her a mine, I think). The Super Duper Mart bit with the Protectotron was excellent, even if the robot didn't last two minutes before being destroyed. I also went routing through some of the buildings near the Northwest Senaca Metro station (Dog Hotel, a gun shop, pharmacy and grocery) and that took me a surprisingly long time despite not finding much. There was a gas leak in one room which inclined me to switch to my knuckle dusters. After talking to Armand I'm glad I did because it turns out they do go boom with a spark.

And lastly, I came across some Brotherhood of Steel outcasts toasting Raider butt and after cautiously approaching them unaware that they were 'friendly' I realised I'd just triggered a mailbox bomb directly beside them. I quickly dived out the way but the blast blew one of them up leaving behind her armour…

Gregg, tip: not sure if you know, but to become 'well-rested' you must sleep in a bed that you own. Like if you have a room in Megaton or Tenpenny. Otherwise you can sleep for a year and still not gain the well-rested XP bonus.

In case you didn't know!

So in August I bought the game of the year edition for PS3 ... I never bought any DLC for my original 360 copy and finally wanting to get around to it, it made much more sense to purchase a new $29 game rather than buy five $10 DLC packs (why the hell wouldn't they cut the price in half? ughhh bloody DLC)

I have unfortunately tackled the worst two DLCs first. Operation: Anchorage was so linear, so 95% combat-based, so bloody boring and uninteresting, and taxing on the console that I don't understand who thought publishing this was a good idea. This DLC was almost as bad as all the Mass Effect DLC. Actually, I'm going to change that to DLR- downloadable rubbish.

So the next DLR I play-- admittedly a bit less rubbish because aliens are naturally cooler than Alaska-- is Mothership Zeta; the introduction to this one was much neater because I wasn't shoved down some path and prepared for a DLR pack to begin; I was just exploring the Wasteland, and when I

So anyway, MZ is a bit better than O:A because, well, aliens, and their weaponry is wickedly lethal so it's a blast (ahem) to engage in combat. The problem is, and this goes for both DLRs obviously, is that IT'S ALL BLOODY COMBAT. There's a bit more talking than there was in Anchorage, but it's still mostly shooting. Is it not obvious that the combat in both its forms-- real time and VATS-- was enjoyed by most because in reasonable doses throughout exploring the Wastes it is quite enjoyable. But when all you're doing is shooting crap, ugh, it's just endlessly plodding.

I just want to get off this damn UFO and back to the comforts of what makes Fallout 3 work: the Wasteland. I miss you, Dogmeat. I'll be home soon, buddy. [Image Can Not Be Found]

I finished Zeta. Enjoyed the very end of it. And yes, there are SO many damn weapons and gizmos, and despite the alien ammo types being limited, I have over 4,000 of the one type (the one that fires from the disintegrator aka "alien blunderbuss") so that will last me a long ass time.

I kind of agree with what you say, that you enjoyed Anchorage over Zeta because it was a historical part of the Fallout universe, whereas MZ was a bit of a detour. Of course, hardcore Fallout 1 players (me!) will all remember trying to find the fabled alien blaster at the crashed UFO site. So it's not a brand new idea introduced. Though yes, I agree with your notion, and I think there was something to be said about leaving the alien aspect of Fallout a bit unexplored. Pre-Zeta in Fallout 3 you just had the crashed UFO, the one dead alien, and his blaster and a limited supply of ammunition dropped near it. Just a taste. But MZ just puts that all right in your face: alien abduction! It's a freakin' mothership! It wasn't just a few stay UFOs crashing about.

So yeah, Zeta gets a "meh" from me. Anchorage too though. My biggest problem with Anchorage is the terrible frame rate. The beautifully crispy royal blue icy skies just tanked my PS3. It happened in Zeta too, to a lesser extent on a whole.

I hope the content of Point Lookout and the Pitt make up for my first two downloadable rubbish experiences. I believe they can and will.

Yeah GFWL needs to burn in hell.

Did you care for BS2, Gregg? I was able to enjoy it from a pure play experience. It's certainly just Bioshock with better combat options, but as far as the whole shebang ... Sophia Lamb felt too all over the place. Most of the time she was talking I spent thinking what the bloody hell is she on about anyway?

Her character is not up to the par of Andrew Ryan's. Or Frank Fontaine even. Tenenbaum remains the only constant thread you can identify between the two, and even then, why the hell is she still in Rapture? I don't believe there's an ounce of altruism in her.

Bioshock 2 is largely a passing "eh" from me. My favourite part of the game was going through Ryan's museum because I actually got to listen to more of his musings. Great character, one with whom you can strongly align or take issue with. Lamb on the other hand, listening to her mush seemed about as useful as a conversation between an atheist and an agnostic discussing which one was better.

But what are/were your thoughts?

Mine: Middlin' [Image Can Not Be Found]

@xtal:

xtal said

Did you care for BS2, Gregg?

... Tenenbaum remains the only constant thread you can identify between the two, and even then, why the hell is she still in Rapture? ...

But what are/were your thoughts?

Mine: Middlin' [Image Can Not Be Found]

I've still got my impressions/my idea of fun/random article bubbling away in my drafts (it's a hot potato to be honest so I've been working on it on and off) but I really, truly loved Bioshock 2 and yes, more than the original. It's the first game in a long, long time that I just got totally absorbed in and had to binge on until I finished it (6+ hour play sessions). I'm trying to word my article as carefully as possible though because... well, we're dealing with Bioshock and that's not a sacred cow I want to mess with on the front page.

Regarding Tenenbaum, she left Rapture after the first game but returned when she heard that little girls were mysteriously going missing (presumably she tagged on to Mark Meltzer's search for his own child).

Believe it or not there aren't that many mods there, there are just a lot of .esp's for each one. After Morrowind, I thought I'd never go back to using so many mods but Armand recommended the Fallout Wanderers Edition mod -- a mod I was checking out before I started Fallout 3 the first time -- and I had to have it. And then some.

Bioshock 2: