Bully-Board
Bully => Bully 2 Discussion => Topic started by: DylanMcCoy on September 14, 2010, 09:29:26 PM
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http://www.gamesradar.com/f/why-rockstar-needs-to-make-bully-2/a-20100913153622300020 (http://www.gamesradar.com/f/why-rockstar-needs-to-make-bully-2/a-20100913153622300020)
Discuss.
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For those who want to skip the ad...This was written by Justin Towell, GamesRadar UK.......
Criminals. Superpowers. Criminals with superpowers. For a genre that's all about being able to do anything, sandbox games have become mighty predictable. But you only have to look back as far as the end of the last generation for the antidote to the industry's myopia. Bully. A game that few people talk about now, but which remains easily the equal of GTA IV in terms of playability. It needs a sequel. Here's why...
The game world in Red Dead Redemption was massive, possibly in answer to everyone who said GTA IV was too small after San Andreas. Maybe too big. Personally, I felt that the wilderness that made up the majority of the play area was a little too empty to hold my interest all the way to the end (I appreciate I'm in the minority when I say that). There's only so much you can do in a big open field - kill birds, ambush stagecoaches, pick flowers and kill more birds. While the execution is superb, there just isn't the opportunity for the kind of gameplay variations that Bully keeps throwing at you.
Bully's game world is comparatively tiny for the first three or four hours, but then opens up once you get outside of the school, giving you a virtual playground that's approaching the size of a GTA island. It's packed full of surprising and fun things to do. The go-kart track, the rollercoaster at the carnival, mowing lawns for money, doing a paper round, hitting the boxing ring, racing your BMX... after the similar variety of San Andreas, this was what we expected from GTA IV but we were sorely let down.
Clearly, returning to school wouldn't be the best way to do Bully 2. Rockstar would either have to ignore the first game and have Jimmy start afresh at a new school, or (and this is my preferred option), set it at college as a straight sequel. This would be ideal, especially as Rockstar could get past the whole 'child violence' thing and avoid having more angry parents lobbying for the game to be banned. It's hard to believe now, but the outcry was so great last time, they were forced to rename the game 'Canis Canem Edit' (latin for Dog Eat Dog) in the UK, which didn't do anyone any favours.
College would also give you a new campus to explore, complete with halls of residence for stealth infiltration and a cast of teachers who are every bit as crazy and unstable as the old crew. Basically, it would be more of the same, but more grown-up and without all the PR headaches that go with it. All it needs to do is keep tongue firmly in cheek (or firmly in someone else's).
We're well into this generation of consoles now and the technology is in place to make a game like this absolutely come alive. The original did appear on Xbox 360, but it was a comparitively shabby port that added little in the way of current-gen gloss. The low-poly character models from the original would be replaced with high quality imagery in a style not as realistic as Heavy Rain but perhaps in the faux realism of Uncharted. And while a few canned animations would certainly be good for humour, adding the physics of GTA IV to the characters would give you loads of new ways to make your own fun.
The other thing that's been missing from the genre for too long (aside from the odd exception like Saints Row 2) is a sense of humour. Bully's full of cutting satire and humourous observations, mostly delivered with a surprising level of subtlety. Like the alcoholic English teacher who gives you his bottle then opens a new one as soon as you're gone. The girl with the cold sores who insists they're not contagious once they've scabbed over. The Einstein mask you can wear that makes every cut-scene impossible to watch without laughing. The girls who kick you in the nuts when they catch you kissing another girl. When was the last time you played a game like that?
Red Dead has reignited interest in the third-person GTA-style game after the slight feeling of saturation that accompanied the DLC episodes for GTA IV. While we wait for the inevitable GTA V, there's unquestionably room for one more stop-gap title from Rockstar. I'm not convinced LA Noire is going to fill that hole perfectly. I am convinced this would.
Bully was initially misunderstood, modestly celebrated but now almost forgotten. I can understand why Rockstar would be reluctant to put themselves through all the bad press a second time but a college setting could sidestep all that. And with the genre getting just a little stagnant and set in its ways, Bully 2 would be a welcome revision class in how to make a great sandbox game.
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I don't know, not too fond of the idea of college. It'd be like a generic GTA with college perks.
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Hmm....the idea of sending Jimmy or another student to college would take a little getting used to, but I think I'd be open to the idea. It could be fun.
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'Appalachian U', school of low entrance standards.....As we all know Jimmy isn't real bright.
Make it a real pit of a College with a lot of other Losers, and it just might work.
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I want it goes on a trilogy, just like Half-Life 2. The first episode is Jimmy was sent to Bullworth when he was 13 years old and is set on Bullworth. The second and third episode.....I mention it later
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college could definitely work, although rockstar don't really seem the type to do that just to avoid controversy as the article suggests
the other issue is whether it needs to be Jimmy as the protagonist again. sure, it's great to get a continuation of the story but the various GTA spinoffs and sequels all featured different playable characters and made that work very well. new characters offer a lot of potential;
a new student at Bullworth, but with a different personality to Jimmy
a new student at a different school nearby so there's some crossover characters and maybe a rivalry between the schools
a student from Bully 1 playing the same timeframe from a different angle, kind of like the GTA4 spinoffs
a different character at another school/college with some of the old Bullworth gang there
that's not to say that we shouldn't play Jimmy in the sequel, but that rockstar have a lot of options
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Jimmy is STILL our hero, like Gordon in Half-Life.
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I like the idea of having rival schools, it would be great to have Bullworth left in the story for that.
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I agree with you. Jimmy and Bullworth still standing...with Jenkem to blast things up.
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agreed unti i saw the Bully college idea, should really stay high school if you ask me, wouldnt care if it was M Rated and still in High School, (if thats what everyone is seeming to want) just Bully in College? might as well give it a new name...
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Jimmy is STILL our hero, like Gordon in Half-Life.
A+ for the Half-Life reference.
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You like Half-Life, huh? I like it.
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I like Half-Life and every bit of it including Source engine.
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Great article! I'm not sure how much I like the idea of Jimmy in college, though... In a few ways it would be cool because of everything that opens up after high school, but I love all the characters too much to see them leave! Let's face it, if Jimmy were to go off ot college how many of his classmates would go with him? Sure, Rockstar COULD make all the same characters go to the same college if they wanted to, but that would be stupid. Realistically that wouldn't happen. Some kids go to community college, some kids go off to Yale, some kids bum around town... Sending Jimmy to college would only be a good idea if there was some way to keep in contact with the whole Bulworth crew, imo. But that's just my opinion since I don't want to let any of them go, lol! I'M TOO ATTATCHED!! D:
I'd like the idea of setting Bully2 in Jimmy's senior year at Bullworth. That way he'd be at least old enough to jack a car or even own one. I just love the idea of seeing everyone grown and seeing what they would be like a couple years later.
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Jimmy off to college... I feel like "Bully" fits a high school setting more than a college but it still could be cool. And if Bully 2 does actually take off I really hope that there's no "Endless Summer." I really think it would be cooler if the seasons would change no matter how long you would play after you beat the game.
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And if Bully 2 does actually take off I really hope that there's no "Endless Summer." I really think it would be cooler if the seasons would change no matter how long you would play after you beat the game.
Agreed! I'm always wishing it could be winter or fall again :(
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Yes! I absolutely love winter and it's just too short for one chapter!! And with every season they should also keep the halloween and christmas decorations.
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I guess though, it wouldn't be 'Endless Summer' without....Well, Summer. I would like to have Winter back for one single reason, though....Shoveling Snow is a hell of lot less time-consuming than mowing the Goddam Football Field....
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Yes, it is. Mowing the lawn sucks. I like the snowball fights. The reaction someone gets when they are pegged right in the face is priceless!
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Agreed. I enjoy getting detention when I get to shovel snow!
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The Halloween night I would enjoy giong to, and not having to do in a mission form.
Aside from that one holiday, there's not much else in the way of stuff. There's no Easter, for example, no New Years Day, no Thanksgiving, and Christmas is glossed over.
I never got to play SE, so don't know how the 'Santa' thing goes.
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In SE it was pretty much Jimmy helping out an alcoholic Santa for a few missions. There was definitely a larger emphasis on Christmas.
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Alcoholic Santa ftw!
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Ha,
Yeah I thought it was a cool addition to the original game.
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It would be nice if we were afforded the option of being able to "Relive Mission",such as is offered on Manhunt and other games.
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Ask Valve for their awesome Source engine.
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"Relieve Mission?" Like skip one? I've never played Manhunt.
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no, like do it again
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Yeah, you just get to pick any mission at random and play it over, after you've beat it.
I love the Manhunt 'Relive Mission'....I kept going back to replay the hard ones, doing different shit to beat the mission. The more challenging ones turned out to be the most fun....
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I think that option would conflict too much with the plot. Cliques gaining or losing respect for you twice? I know that wouldn't happen but, you know it'd just be weird.
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Why ? You have to gain their respect twice in the actual game. What would be the difference ?
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He means if missions were to be replayed, then you would lose clique respect again. For example, I, with a game beaten, decide to replay the mission Tad's House and Prep respect goes down 15 even after the game is beaten.
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No, No, No......If you just replay the MISSION....Wouldn't affect your already completed GAME....
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Like you temporarily lose respect, but just for that mission.
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Right....I just want to replay the MISSIONS....Screw the rest, it's just free roam like Endless Summer.
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I think that the whole respect managment shouldn't happen till endless summer.
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Okay I see what you're saying. The missions are just to damn fun to do only once.
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Oh, there's some stuff you can always do over...Like the bike missions....But to do the neat stuff, like The Funhouse...The Junkyard....The Tennements....
To be able to just pick them from a list, and go play them, anytime.
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I wish you could take the sledgehammer outside the tenements!
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Yeah, you can knock down wall studs with it but you can't knock down the fucking front door.
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I've seen plenty of games with the replay mission feature, sadly not Bully. The feature you always want in one game ends up being in another. Why can't they just make a game with everything everyone wants? One thing developers need to learn how to do is listen to the ideas of their fans. I've mailed multiple letters and barely get responses. Any responses I got were worthless. If SOME of the fans' ideas were to be applied games would really improve.
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A few days ago I "mouth off-ed" on the Rockstar Games website about Bully 2, not expecting a real response, but I got one in my e-mail! I was excited then decided to do it again with a different e-mail address and I got the same response...
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So....What did you 'mouth off' about, and what were the responses ?
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I asked if they were making another one. And they e-mailed me back.
"Hey Dave,
Thanks for the e-mail. Since we haven't announced any plans for a new Bully game, I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you. However, we do appreciate that you took the time to send us your thoughts. Stay tuned to the Rockstar Games official website for details on all of our upcoming game announcements.
Cheers,
Rockstar Games"
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That's very similar to what I got, but it came in the mail as a letter. It always ends up being "Thank you for your thoughts". That's if you get a response. I've sent oout to Konami getting a worthless response. I want to send out to Namco about making a new Sniper Elite. That gam was awesome!
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I'm thinking of asking a few different questions within a few weeks to see what other kind of responses I get.
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I've prepped a letter myself. I'll be sending it soon. Its really just a hope. All games are. The one thing about supporting any game is that no matter how low the hope seems for it, you need to continue in supporting it. Don't say fuck it and give up. I mailed out to Atomic Games for 6 Days In Fallujah. I have yet to receive a response.
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Hey how about Half-Life 2: Episode Three?
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Yeah I'm going to try that. Just keep sending e-mails about it to whoever to support it. Don't know if it'll really do much, but at least I know I've tried.
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I've sent multiple letters to the same developers hoping for a response. Sometimes these developers don't even read your letters. But, if you never leave them leave them alone, maybe they'll reconsider.
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I think some developers do listen to fans and read their letters. My sister once sent letters to EA suggesting different expansion packs for The Sims 2. Coincidently her ideas were made into new packs shortly after the letters reached EA.
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Some developers do listen. Those are the smart ones. But there is the ones who think they can take the whole thing head on.
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Bastards, fan feedback is always a good bet. The fans want what the fans want. #1 way to making a sucessful game.
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#1 way to keep your fans....and business running.
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Yeah I hope the letters I sent were actually read by someone and not just a person who clicks on a standard response. But I doubt it.. :-\
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You're probably lucky if they opened the envelope. Only the developers who use their fan's ideas will read your letter. Any others will think you as worthless. Their ideas are better.
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I'm thinking they didn't because
A) On the R* Games website, it's called "mouth off."
B) I got the same response twice.
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I don't think you'll ever see a developer writing a real letter to a fan. If they write anything, its all of that thank you bullshit. It kinda makes you feel let down, but this also lets that developer know people are waiting with high expectations.
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I'm surprised Activision isn't publishing 6 Days. Infinity Ward had that one mission where you played as a terrorist and that got through. Granted you could 'censor' it, but still.
I think censorship is bullshit, anyway. In the end, you wind up walking on eggshells for fear of upsetting anyone - even a grasshopper.
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Honestly, who cares. If you don't like it, don't buy the game. Common sense people.
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I'm thinking they didn't because
A) On the R* Games website, it's called "mouth off."
B) I got the same response twice.
They sent you a response? I didn't get nothing back when I sent something.
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Yeah they did. Did you send it on the website under "Mouth Off" at the bottom?
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Yea sent two actually lol, on a few things such as Bully 2, Manhunt 3, and how Jack Thompson well you can probably guess. Never did hear anything back, but it's all good.
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Fuck Jack Thompson, Kill him if you can.
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Yea sent two actually lol, on a few things such as Bully 2, Manhunt 3, and how Jack Thompson well you can probably guess. Never did hear anything back, but it's all good.
Wow that's strange. I think I got replies just about a day after I sent the messages.
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Well that's strange maybe they didn't know how to respond to me. As for Jack Thompson can't stand him, but I wouldn't kill him just wish he'd shut up.
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I'm surprised that they wouldn't just send you a default response like they do for everyone else!
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That makes me want to send them another one just to see if they send one.
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I'd try that if I were you. Were you polite to them? Haha, because if not they might not respond.
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Yea I was polite, wasn't really no reason not to be. I'm going to send another just to see though.
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Okay good. Because some people might totally just flip a shit out on them asking why the game they want hasn't come out yet. Lol.
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Lol no I wouldn't do that, with as many hours I've spent playing there games. I got to give thanks for that, growing up if it wasn't for games I would of been in trouble all the time. Used to be such a big trouble maker.
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Weren't we all ? Now, we are 'Reformed', thankx to good violent video games.
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I've grew up with everything from Doom up until now and never killed anybody, I'm sure most of you have as well. Maybe a few have :p, just hate when someone blames a game for something they did.
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I have killed Japanese soldiers and Communist rebels even before the invention of videogames.
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Somebody has to be unstable enough to start with to do that type of shit, game or no game, or in a real war where there no choice.
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I've killed many a man's hearts.
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I killed a dog. He took a shit in my tomatoes.
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I've killed many a man's hearts.
You jerk....:)
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I killed a dog. He took a shit in my tomatoes.
Man dogs don't care where they go, I had one shit in my shoe one time.
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Nasty. I have a story about a dog crappin in front of my door and it froze and the damn thing wouldn't open. But it's a long story.
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That's fucked up. I've never had issues with dog shit in bad places. I've never stepped in it either, I hope it stays that way.
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You've never stepped in it, can't remember how many times I have.
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Even Tony Soprano does.
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There's about a billion dogs out here in the boonies, you can't help stepping in crap sometimes, it's all over the place. The good thing is it's a big place. Not as big as North Dakota, but big enough.
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Oh shit. It reminds me of one time when I face-planted in cat shit. I jumped off the swing to see how high I would go and I face-planted in it.
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That's really disgusting. I have seriously never stepped in crap and that's simply because I pay attention to where I'm going.
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You sound like Adrian Monk.
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I love that show! I actually can relate to him. I have some OCD, but its not all that extreme.
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I have a little germophobia and I always have the need to touch things just like him. I see a car antenna and I want to touch it. I don't know what the hell why, I just do.
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It sounds like you Sir, have OCD.
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Wait, you're a germaphobe and want to touch stuff all the time?! Haha how does that work?
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It just does. I wash my hands very well.
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Just certain things.
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Yeah, its complicated. A normal person like you wouldn't understand. :p
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I know I don't understand it, I'd have to wash my hands a lot.
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I used to have a toothbrush and floss with me when I went to school.
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And you wonder why you can't start the plane ?
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I wish I knew what to say to that.
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It comes naturally.
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Actually, I'm a slight germaphobe but not to the point where I'll wear gloves just to walk around in public. But I am pretty OCD. Everything needs to be, just right!
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That's why I moved out of my room a long time ago. I had to share it with my brother.
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I'm not germophobe, I ever drank sewage water and stale foods in the time of Dutch and Japanese occupation and don't get any disease.
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You oughtta try camp food.....
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Except Younglife Camp food is delicious.
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I've ate plenty of stale food, but I don't know about any sewage water.
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You oughtta try camp food.....
I say try therapy.
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As much as I love Jimmy, I don't really want him in a sequel.
I guess I wouldn't mind it if they took it to college, which I doubt they'd do, but it'd be cool to get a whole new school and twon etc. by adding a new character.
But, Jimmy could just get expelled from Bullworth or something I dunno.
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Jimmy is just not college material.
I would rather see a whole new venue, with new characters.
RockStar seems good at that sort of thing.
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Maybe, but Jimmy just seems like a Bully staple. I can't imagine it would be the same without him.
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Jimmy must remain our hero, and all the old characters stay along with new one, making Bullworth more realistically dense-populated.
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Jimmy is just not college material.
I would rather see a whole new venue, with new characters.
RockStar seems good at that sort of thing.
This.
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I think it's best if completely new school with completely new characters appears in new Bully.
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^ Isn't that what the hell I just said ?
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I'm afraid that'd be too different, so it wouldn't feel like Bully. But on the other hand, if done correctly, it could be pretty awesome.
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You oughtta heard all those people whining when Manhunt 2 came out without James Earl Cash. Boo-Hoo-Hoo. Manhunt 2 was just as good a game as Manhunt 1 was, storywise, I thought. I believe the same would happen with Bully 2....A new school, new characters, would be just fine....We would get to explore new stuff all over again, which is half the fun of the game itself.
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^ Isn't that what the hell I just said ?
I'm an idea thief.
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You oughtta heard all those people whining when Manhunt 2 came out without James Earl Cash. Boo-Hoo-Hoo. Manhunt 2 was just as good a game as Manhunt 1 was, storywise, I thought. I believe the same would happen with Bully 2....A new school, new characters, would be just fine....We would get to explore new stuff all over again, which is half the fun of the game itself.
Actually, I think MH2 is a bit gorier than the first. Still sucks that they had to censor the kills. :/
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Is Manhunt (both) for PC?
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??...That I don't know. I would assume so.
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They might be.
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Do I sense sarcasm in these posts? If there is, please make it vanish because I really want to know.
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Serious, I don't know. When I get un-lazy, I'll try to find out.
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It is and that's great. I'll try to get it, because on every forum all members have already played Manhunt, except me.
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Ah, you really gotta try it.....It's fantastic, IMO.
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That's the reason I will.
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I've only ever played it at a friends. You're not alone Repo. But it was rather fantastic. Too bad I still don't have it... :-\
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I say they expand Bullworth, and put a new protagonist and Jimmy is gone forever, Kinda like they did in GTA Chinatown Wars, Niko, Luis, and Johnny virtually disappeared from Liberty City, they weren't even mentioned again.
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Whatever they make, I bet it's gonna be good.
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Anything Bully will never disappoint.
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That's what I thought about Final Fantasy. :/
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:( We'll hope it doesn't happen with Bully.
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Yeah, what's the point in making a bad game. I mean, seriously, the whole point is to sell them. It's not like they are being done for our benefit. And there are a buncha sucky games out there already for kids with moron intelligence.
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Life's too short to play a bad game.
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Life's too short in general.
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^ got that right.
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^Of course I did. Did you doubt me?
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^ Not on bit.
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^Of course you didn't.
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^ Did you think I did?
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^I never doubted that you didn't doubt me a second, a second.
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^ I'm sure he never didn't doubt that he wasn't going to be doubted by you.
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^Whatever he said is correct.
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You oughtta heard all those people whining when Manhunt 2 came out without James Earl Cash. Boo-Hoo-Hoo. Manhunt 2 was just as good a game as Manhunt 1 was, storywise, I thought. I believe the same would happen with Bully 2....A new school, new characters, would be just fine....We would get to explore new stuff all over again, which is half the fun of the game itself.
I'm with you to an extent Chuck. One thing I would not want to see is the replacement of Jimmy. To create other new ideas would be great.
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Cobra ! Where you been ?
Man, that was like 2 pages ago, you musta been trolling....But no, I mean no Jimmy either. Bully 2 needs a whole new setting, and a brand spanking new anti-hero.
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I'll be on and off for a period of time. I'm having online service issues. A day here, a week there. I'll certainly be popping up randomly in posts until I'm settled.
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Speaking of absences, Mercury's gotta lot of problems.
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Care to tell us what they are, If you know ?
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He did mention it in his I'm Sorry topic, no?
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Homework bites. Or just work in general.
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How much homework does he have?? Poor French kids.
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Lol ^
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If he's in AP classes, he has no social life. You really suffer.
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No wonder he takes extended holidays away from the place.
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lol, I never took an AP class. I always saw it as a way to pretend you were better than everybody else. I always stuck with the regular average classes.
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Did everyone graduate here?
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What's AP?
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AP is "Advanced Placement".
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What's Advanced Placement??
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Its the highest level of classes you can take.
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Ok. I think I understood I think. Maybe probably.
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My sister is AP in all classes, funny thing is she has no damn common sense at all.
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They're college courses in high school basically.
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I think Serbia doesn't have AP.
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Advanced Placement. Some courses get you college credits.
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I thought Mercury's 15? He doesn't go to college.
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You can take AP classes starting your first year of high school. I don't remember how French schooling goes, though.
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I think that doesn't exist in RS.
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There's absolutely no way for students to earn any college credits prior to colloege?
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college*
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I dunno. AP maybe exists.
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This is so weird that you guys started talking about this because I just made my schedule for next year yesterday. Lol
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I started talking about it because of Mercury.
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There's absolutely no way for students to earn any college credits prior to colloege?
well my school has Dual Credit classes where you can go take free classes at one of the four colleges, and all you have to pay for are the books, and you get College and High School credits.
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There's absolutely no way for students to earn any college credits prior to colloege?
well my school has Dual Credit classes where you can go take free classes at one of the four colleges, and all you have to pay for are the books, and you get College and High School credits.
You're in the US, though, aren't you? Because that's what I did. I didn't know about it until my sophmore year, so I started doing that. I had like 12 credits before I even graduated high school.
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yeah, but at our school, you can't do it untill your junior year.
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I think my HS only offered it for Seniors, possibly Juniors.
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Hm. I got lucky, I guess. We were allowed to take one class a semester. I took five in total (one was non-credit, but looks good on transcripts).
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In my country we need those credits (we call it points) to go to HS.
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You can take them as a freshman in my HS, but you have to be really ahead. At least 2 years ahead. They're meant for Juniors and Seniors.
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We don't have that in Serbia. Our HS's are much more simple.
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There's AP and Honors over here, even in "Duh-Land".....Make me wonder how these dunderheads ever qualify for them.
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Duh-Land?
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Ind-'Duh'-ana.
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Oh, that Duh-Land.