This podcast was also delayed in publication due to real-life issues, but there’s a lot of banter involved, including a discussion of Bethesda’s missteps and the upcoming The Elder Scrolls VI, whatever it is.
Let us know what you think.
Baldur’s Gate isn’t too old, it was released in November of 1998, but that’s still a bit dated now. The gaming industry isn’t friendly to the years, often working in what seems to be accelerated “dog years” in terms of technological advancements. It figured this was worth covering because it’s one of the best selling and considered a top tier single-player RPG by most accounts.
It was also developed by BioWare, who, at the time, only had one other game under their belt from two years before called Shattered Steel.
The story begins just after a devastating event in the Forgotten Realms D&D campaign called the “Time of Troubles.” This was a great twist in the standard D&D campaign, it caused all curative magic (clerics) to lose their ability to heal unless near their deity, magic didn’t function correctly (I believe this is where the Wild Mage came from) and was unpredictable and gods walked the earth as mortals which caused magic to, in effect, die while the gods were away. Since the storyline starts slightly after this event, the game contains healing and magic but the storyline is impacted by prior events of course, people have trust issues.
The game was made great because it held “mostly true” to the 2nd Edition D&D roots so the learning curve for D&D player’s wasn’t so rough; some things were adjusted to handle the real-time effect of a video game RPG. You could party with up to six Non-Player-Characters (NPC’s) whom would swap in and out of your active party over time as part of the storyline (something also implemented by the US release of Final Fantasy 2).
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It seems Miyamoto let it slide that there will be a Pikmin game arriving in the future, for which systems? Probably the Wii if we had to guess, but it wouldn’t be surpising to see it on both their hit product lines.
His exacty words, “We’re making Pikmain.” Nintendo has done well by their little Pikmin friends, a newer franchise with lots of growth potential and fun for the entire family. The Pikmin series was a sleeper title, looking fairly silly in presentation but full of great value in reality.
It’s not surprising to see them spinning a new Pikmin title and we’ll have to hold our breath in anticipation for the fruitful results. As always, Miyamoto isn’t giving any dates… it will be ready when he says it’s ready.
Any Pikmin fans?
The regular podcast is back, after the Dr. Who outtakes podcast last week. The show runs a little long but it’s full of insight and wonderfulness. Mostly. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the classic arcade motorcycle racer Hang-On.
The podcast also has two week’s worth of news items, including:
Plenty of Listener Feedback, but no Question of the Week – just ask us anything.
