(NWN + RP) + Players = Fun?
Back when i was in University with Rolf and the crew we took a liking to Neverwinter Nights. We played it on a LAN quite a few times, we played it on single player a few times, but we never played it online.
I remember back before it was released hearing about the ability to have Persistent Worlds where you could make... well a persistent world for players...
After a while Mez and myself tried a few PW servers, and eventually found one that suited our tastes CoA (City Of Arabel). This was the MOST fun i had ever had on an online game, there were no shitkids running round screaming profanities or trying to kill each other. There were lots of quests and quite a few players there.
I remember showing Jode this and wanting to buy a sword as my cleric was using his fists alone at the moment. So i went to the nearest building, which happened to be a temple and started rummaging through cupboards and chests in hope of finding some gold. As luck would have it i did, and i had a few books to sell, SCORE!
This is when i realised it was an RP server, when some righteous elf ran up to me screaming "GUARDS GUARDS" and he then tried to subdue me with my stolen property. Jode and myself were laughing at this and decided to try and make a break for it, so we ran out of the temple being chased by a mad elf throwing melfs acid arrows at me.
JUST as i died i managed to throw all the stolen goods i had in a bin, and the guards (who were also players) came over searched me and saw nothing incriminating and let me go...
Macro: 1 - Mad Elf: 0
After that initial encounter we met up with Mez and wandered round a bit and realised how much other people were RPing, be it a small chat with someone in the street, or planning an epic adventure or trading crafted goods. We tried to join in, and made some new friends on the server who we would adventure with quite often in the future.
Although it started to get a bit mundane having to RP every tiny thing, which for some people is great fun, but for me it was becoming a little boring.
After a good few months of trying to RP as best i could, it just wasn't good enough and after a while i left the server. Although we had some great times on it 
, we tried to lead revolutions, we were part of manhunts, epic battles in lich infested graveyards. All of this stuff was great fun but it dawned on me that RPing was like alcohol, some people like the odd drink every now and again just to taste it. Others like to drink quite a few and get merry and then have some fun, while others like to just drink constantly and become alcoholics. Not that im saying hardcore RPers are alcoholics, although im sure it would make some awesome quests if they were.
After leaving there i went and played Lineage 2 and WoW for a while, but am now finding it a tad boring running round doing pointless quests/grinding, where the best conversation you get is someone calling you a noob.
Due to this i thought i would try and find a NWN 2 PW server, even though i hated the actual game i was hoping that PWs could at least give me justification for buying the game.
Couldn't find many, but i found one that had a good number of people in and joined.
I was put into town and i could already feel the atmosphere, there wasn't any little kiddies PKing, or any spams in the trade channel. I thought i would go off an explore, and i found myself wanding a road into some forest area. The sky was getting darker and darker and I was finally out in the middle of no where all alone. I could hear the wolves howling and rustles of little critters running around.
Then BAM out of no where an orc man appears!
I thought its an RP server so lets try the old RP again, "Hello there". This orc guy starts doing the old *looks at you*, and all the other RP stuff and then we have a good 5 minute conversation explaining that im lost and want to get to an outpost or town. He then takes me to the closest town, which is where i originally came from 
.
This is where im sure other peoples sense of fun will diverge a bit, but I didnt find this much fun. Ok it was nice keeping up the illusion that we were both adventurers, I like that aspect. It was nice having someone to talk to, but ultimately I just wanted to go to town, I would have wanted to just say hi, ask for the nearest town, then head off. A 2 minute trip, or a 10 min RP fest...
Is there a middle ground where you can keep up the illusion of being an adventurer and really put in the effort on big events or quests?
Im rambling again so im gonna wrap this up, but i feel that its all or nothing when it comes to NWN RP servers, you have to either RP all the time, spending more time typing than adventuring. Alternatly the other servers have no RP and are full of random people talking rubbish killing each other for their loot. Im trapped in the middle of the spectrum and am looking for a good PW server, let me know if you find one.
Mexican Jeff Presents…
Well as we haven't bothered posting any of our culonary creations on here in a while i thought it would be a nice time to add our own Firecracker Tacos to the site... Im not entirely sure if they were Tacos or just something alltogether different...
[Images No Longer On Host]
Sorry for the crappy quality i was taking the pictures with my phone, anyway we chowed down on those bad boys and were quite impressed with ourselves for making something that didnt look like vomit... We also had a tragic game of Wii Golf where Jode emerged on top by some bizzare turn of events. Needless to say Mexican Jeff was in tears at losing his hard earned skill points.
We then finished off by playing the classic 1990s Turtles arcade game on the Xbox, i could have sworn that Donatello was the best character, but he was pants... After about 30 mins of playing it 3 player we realised it wasnt worth the £4 or so that we paid for it...
For those of you who still play WoW out there, we all seemed to create Paladin characters a couple of weeks ago for a laugh... i mean who doesnt want wings on their character! I've managed to get mine up to about level 50 now and i must say that they are not too bad with the combat revamp from TBC!
Command and Codpiece 3
Ok, the other week we all got C&C 3 for a lan session. I had high hopes for this game as i was a MASSIVE fan of C&C Tib Sun.
I wasnt a massive fan of the other C&C games purely because most games were tank rushes. It didnt matter if you wanted to sneak into someones base or do some crazy tactics, because whoever built the most tanks won...
HOWEVER in Tib Sun it varied from the Tank Rush Tactic, as NOD you could be sneaky and prevail through use of hiding and making small strategic strikes opposed to just building up a wad of tanks and mobilizing.
As NOD was inferior in pretty much every way after the 1st major patch to Tib Sun you HAD to make sure you Kept Hidden and made the most of the crappy units you had.
After that brief covering of the older game let me cover the highlights of C&C 3 from NOD's point of view...
Base Stealthing
WTF is the point... its not true stealth as people can still see your frigging becon saying HEY IM HIDING SOMETHING HERE. OK you could possibly build lots in random places to try and put people off the scent but whats the point when GDI will just get juggernauts to sniper them from the other side of the map...
Unit Stealthing
Words dont describe the pointlessness of this ability. I dont even know if pointlessness is a word, but it is now... its a word invented to describe the pile of tripe that used to be NODs key tactical advantage.
What is the point of only being stealthed when you are standing still... you build up 30 "stealth" vehicles and then decide that you want to sneak behind the enemies base where they are weak and then blow them up while sending a decoy squad of shitkids up the front.
NO LUCK LADDY BOY, your units just died, they died screaming WTF IS THE POINT OF STEALTH, because when they are mobile the WHOLE WORLD is watching you move... they are sitting there in their throne chuckling at your futile attempt to sneak up on them, putting LOTS of units in front of you and then behind you to block you in and destroy you... And as i said earlier, NOD is inferior in firepower and defense on most units, so you have just lost all your stealth tanks for no apparent reason...
If you cant move while stealthed ITS NOT STEATLH, its like CRAPOUFLAGE... i dont know if thats a word either, but it is now...
Subterranean Units
WHO STOLE THESE PRICELESS UNITS???
Where EA on crack when they thought it would be a GREAT idea to take out these things?
Ok lots of people hated the Sub+Eng+Com tactic which would flatten many stupid players bases, but thats their OWN damn fault for not protecting it. Any good NOD playing knows that when you were spotted in Tib Sun you packed a few Subteranean APCs full of units and engineers and sent them off to the far corners of the world in hope of survival, as you are NEVER going to win even unit battles against any team.
Now you just have to sit there crying while you're base is flattened by some retarded looking robots or insects. As no air defense is enough for those frigging hornets that take a dump in your base and no ground defense is enough for an army of sniping juggernauts.
Commando
Ok Cabal died or whatever meaning cyborg technology was lost... if i was Kain... first on my agenda... get that hunk back up and running as without a CYBORG commando you are gonna get owned. The new commando looks cool from the first glance. They can blow stuff up and can kill things quite fast... but they are human so like 2 shots from anything and they are dead.
I thought HEY lets sneak into a bunch of juggernauts and blow them up... thats sneaky and that will save my base from total destruction.
That battle lasted all of 2 seconds, as her CRAPOUFLAGE is pointless as you have to move to approach a unit, and if you just stand there hoping they will come to you, you cant plant anything on them as you unstealth to do that anyway... So that means your commando just died without doing anything productive... Shadow Turds are the same, they fly in thinking they are all stealth, then when they hit the ground BAM as EVERYTHING CAN SEE STEALTH.
Finishing Comments
Imagine if you will, you are a normal child at the age of 14 or so. In school you know some bullies are going to come beat you up. You are a nerd, you have the brawling ability of a dead squirrel and the ONLY hope of survival past lunch break is for you to attain some SUPER POWER.
WELL TODAY LITTLE TIMMY YOUR DREAM HAS COME TRUE! You have been blessed with the power to be invisible as long as you dont move...
Little Timmy stands in the middle of the playground chuckling quietly to himself as he sees the army of bullies walking towards him. He gets a tad worried as they seem to be heading straight towards him, he doesnt move as he KNOWS that his super power will stop working...
OH NOES LITTLE TIMMY! The bullies start hitting you in the arms, you cry out as your arms become dead and they start wailing on your legs... As you start to pass out from the pain you think why in hell didnt my super power save me?
Then you realise OMG you were tricked.... ALL BULLIES CAN SEE INVISIBLE PEOPLE!
This little story has just encapsulated the NOD experience in the new C&C game... you are a pointless faction with pointless units and pointless skills, your only hope for survival is to build more Paper Tanks for your enemies to mince while you launch as many super weapons as you can...
After discussing these points with Mez im hoping for an expansion pack that will make this game like is predacessor...
RIP NOD, Kain you should have stayed dead you tard...