I am sad to say that Bioshock is more fun than running my GURPS game. I should be loyal to the tabletop, but I'm not and it would take way too much energy to pretend.
I was more or less disappointed with Neverwinter Nights 2. It was a pretty game to look at, but it required a lot of nit-picking input for a small small return, and the plot railroading felt like a cheat.
Also, one character got good development (Khelgar) and all the other characters deserved equal time. Khelgar got special quests that changed his personality and attitude and so on. He got character development. Everyone deserved it, only Khelgar got it.
Bioshock is frankly much better. The plot is almost completely railroad, except that there might be a small difference between the good and bad choice -- you can save mutant children or harvest them.
Bioshock has very creepy atmosphere, very pretty sounds and sights, and a skill system about as complex as the original Deus Ex. That's a compliment, coming from me -- I loved the original Deus Ex.
Videogames have a massive advantage over tabletop games -- videogames can hire twenty different voice actresses for twenty different female characters, and a similar number of males. The acting convinces me more than tabletop acting. I usually cringe when male referees try to role-play female NPCs.
Tabletop games still have ultimate tactical flexibility, but computer-mediated physics engines don't get into arguments about how infravision works.
Bioshock is pretty gruesome -- there are lots of corpses, mutated freaky people, and so on. NWN2 can be much more wholesome, if you play the good route. I prefer a well-presented gruesome story to a glitchy wholesome story. Neither game really satisfies my craving for choices that cause non-trivial differences to plot.
It's all about finding a game that fits your style.
Bioshock is an amazing game. NWN2, was a marginal improvment over NWN took a couple steps backwards in others and for the most part stayed the same. Which leaves it being an OK game to visit, but not a great one to stick with.
Same goes with GURPS if the nitty gritty rules are getting you down, try a game that fits more inline with your style of play.
Quote from: kryystIt's all about finding a game that fits your style.
Bioshock is an amazing game. NWN2, was a marginal improvment over NWN took a couple steps backwards in others and for the most part stayed the same. Which leaves it being an OK game to visit, but not a great one to stick with.
Same goes with GURPS if the nitty gritty rules are getting you down, try a game that fits more inline with your style of play.
I would have put more effort into NWN2 if the authoring tools were easier to use.
I had thought I would be playing through Bioshock at least twice, but in fact I'm not.
So while Bioshock was quick, it didn't wear out its welcome. NWN2 was slow and did.
You're absolutely right about finding a game that fits one's style.
My enjoyment of NWN2 came in around chapter 2 when I came to the sad realization that your choices were meaningless and you didn't need to think at all because the game held your hand the entire way. It's a sad state when Baldur's gate is still the best game of the bunch. Which isn't a knock against Baldur's gate. Just that they haven't been able to understand and recreate what was right about that game.
NWN 2 is good because of some of the mods out there. Like the original, the packaged quest is bland and serves to only show off what the game can do. But also like the original NWN, the mod community is where the great adventures are found.
The NWN 2 toolset is retarded difficult to use at times, so while you can make prettier maps it takes WAY longer to make even a simple village exterior. As a result, there's less mod makers out there, but they'd still a talented bunch. At times.
Bioshock is one of the greatest games ever made IMHO. The mood and gameplay were awesome, the visuals perfect, and the story involving. I got the "good guy" ending, and it was so freakin' powerful of an ending my GF started tearing up.
Bioshock... what a game.
-=Grim=-