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Yeah think so. Those names are just from Deus Ex I could repeatedly say "My weiner is augmented", that way.

Lalala... finished my first attempt on cipher's passives (scroll down to the bottom). Before you ask me what that brain+star thing is (/Greater Focus/Keen Mind): those are only slight variantions of the symbol that it used for "focus" in the actual game. I'm not happy with everything and it's really hard to come up with some meaningful symbols for all those abstract stuff as "echo", "soul" and whatnot. There's a lot of echos and souls here...

You can't translate this number into sold units, because that return would also include the investor's cut for units that were sold on sale.

FYI, the forum update means we can finally just copy/paste twitter links! Huzzah!

I like most of stuff. Exept, maybe, Shared Nightmare, and "Souls" icons with skulls... Maybe try a different symbol for soul? https://www.google.com/search?q=soul+symbol&newwindow=1&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjE8pzdj_3hAhWrw6YKHXbcAV8Q_AUIDigB#imgrc=RZoexgLv7WO10M: https://www.behance.net/gallery/24648085/Soul-Symbol-Design

This is laughable. In the end, I'd rather have more options that increase a game's accessibility to more players (not to mention greatly enhance the game's replay value) than a few less bugs. Not to mention that this "diversion of resources" was not "unnecessary", as the addition of turn-based mode will be of great benefit to the console port of the game. Real-Time is almost impossible to do well on a controller, as it necessitates extremely long pauses due to the incredible need for micromanagement in this type of game. No matter how good your control scheme is, this would make the game feel like a complete slog. Turn-based on the other hand never interrupts the flow of the game, and thus fits much better into the slower pace of gameplay that a controller creates. This drastic increase in the appeal of the console port also has a secondary benefit in that many people who play RPGs prefer turn-based combat, which makes sense since the roots of these games are in a turn-based format and also since the gameplay in RPGs (but particularly in Pillars of Eternity) tends to have many layers of complexity. I'm very glad that more of the wider RPG community will care to experience the game, that turn-based mode will and has exposed Deadfire to a larger audience, as I'd greatly prefer forward-thinking, nuanced games like Deadfire to be leading the genre as opposed to games with shallow worldbuilding and storytelling (like Divinity Original Sin) or games overly obsessed with replicating tabletop mechanics in a format they weren't designed for (like Pathfinder Kingmaker). Regardless, there's very little Obsidian can do to improve the gameplay of real-time combat in Deadfire without a complete overhaul. The few flaws that Deadfire's combat system has (like the Penetration System, for example) are fundamental, the kind of tweaking you can do post-launch can't account for fundamentally broken mechanics that literally every encounter in the game is built around. Even if the development of turn-based has turned away resources from adjusting the real-time gameplay, the fact that it operates differently also gives the developers working on that mode a lot more freedom, allowing them to get a lot more done with it then a focus on real-time ever would've carried. And besides, in the long-term, modders can probably more smartly handle such nuanced mechanical adjustments than the developers anyways. Like, there's already a penetration overhaul up on the Nexus last time I checked, and its really great. So if anything happens to fall through, the modding support this game allows for means that it can be addressed by the community anyways, so it is far more in the game and Obsidian's interest to expand on it's number of features and flexibility as a game. Will turn-based ever be perfectly balanced? Probably not, but who cares? No game is ever perfectly balanced, as all things should be, but it doesn't mean it can't be very enjoyable regardless. I'd rather this community be larger and more influential than for Obsidian to be a few inches closer to a perfectly balanced game. By the way, I think it's very strange to suggest that CRPGs as a genre are in fundamental conflict with a turn-based format, when they were initially built on top of a turn-based game: Dungeons & Dragons. Even POE, which greatly adjusted the format to function a lot better in real-time (which I would agree has caused some of the fundamental issues that TB mode currently has, like action speed), is still greatly influenced by that original material. So, if anything, the format is actually a great fit for these types of games as they get closer to replicating the core tabletop experience.

1. some sort of annihilation effect triggered on ranger pet, causing "perma" death (could not revive pet at all; their body was just nowhere around to be targeted) (this happened in one of the SSS slayer trials). 2. at end of combat, pet comes back, nonetheless. 3. but bonded grief remains (see screenshot) I don't have an output_log because I didn't notice this until well after this occured (and it's been weeks since I've last had a chance to play the game), but I do have a dropbox link of my save: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/slt8a78p39dgj48/AACJQ8d0MO6EX9NAMNsf1oRIa?dl=0

But you don't "give away" money when crowdfunding. At least not if the project gets finished. I think that's the biggest point we differ. Crowdfunding is not charity and it's defining trait is not non-profit. Crowdfunding can also change forms a lot. As I said (and which nobody referred to yet) I can see how you only crowdfund parts of a game just to stay in touch with your fan better. Maybe try to find out which "special" features they would like. But I also think about Fig shares which are by no means meant to be non-profit but are still a form of a crowd funding stuff.

Answers to Endgame shenanigans

It's a masterclass in how not to do projects (I still remember my landlord trying to convince me it would be up and running soon when I was living south of Berlin) I checked up on the projects history back then and I think the US will be a communist country before that airport has regular air traffic

The basic outer shell of my house is done: The inside is mostly empty: I'm eventually going to divide this lower level into rooms. You can see my bed off in the corner, I'll move it later once I have the layout complete. This second floor (first floor if you're British) and the mezzanine are going to remain one giant open room. I'll probably add a ceiling in the future and use the upper floor just below the roof as storage, with a ladder to reach it. I'm also definitely going to add some columns for decoration (and support). All manner of debauchery is going to take place in this giant, two-tier open room, so I'm going to make it lavish as ****. Naturally, I have a sweet-ass throne up on the mezzanine where I can look out over the giant open space.

note that a "fix" for this issue is to have the pet knocked out again and revived. then the bonded grief goes away (thankfully you dont' get multiple bonded grief effects)

Hello, Do we have an idea of the release date for POE 2? I thought I have read somewhere it was for May 2019, but can't remember or retrieve the info... Please any confirmation ? Thanks

Fig Announces Positive Investor Returns for the Second Straight Year The relevant snip about Deadfire:

Die Ventrue scum. Remember Carthage.

welp Ethics got there first

two dachshunds? suggest the following: shut and up with two dachshunds (no doubt heavy on the hund) am suspecting you will be saying "shut up," at least in your head, with oppressive frequency. might as well get mileage outta the names, eh? HA! Good Fun!

Heh, dad's dog is called JC.

Family deciding to get two new dachshunds in July. We need to think up names, so that is a fun and somewhat difficult exercise. Maybe JC and Paul.

^ Yes: > Beguiler's Draining Whip - Biting_Whip_Beguiler_SE_DamageMult: "StatusEffectType": "DamageMultiplier", "BaseValue": 1.1, "ExtraValue": 0, "AttackFilter": { "Source": "Weapon", } "AttackTargetFilter": { // (only applied vs flanked, or mind or body affected enemies) "KeywordsIDs": [ "8ca098ca-731e-481d-b958-a337064afd6c", "13d9f275-8a57-4f99-9ead-ef798ce7c53a", "ae8eaf9c-6fdc-4c63-9aac-8ee874082c0f" ], "KeywordLogic": "Or", } - Draining_Whip_Beguiler_SE_DamageMultReduced: "StatusEffectType": "DamageMultiplier", "BaseValue": 1.1, "ExtraValue": 1.1, "AttackFilter": { "Source": "Weapon", } "AttackTargetFilter": { // (i.e. applied vs everyone) "KeywordsIDs": [], }

I will split it up. Sorry.

It is actually still true. Here how it looks in the current v4.1.2: screenshot. (obligatory: 'wow, such upgrade, amazing' doge.jpg) Those beguiler related fixes that were added in v4.1.0 were fixing other problems:

Someone else reported it, but I'm just adding further data point. A similar bug related to killing enemies with crits was fixed some versions ago, so this is something new (this item has been sitting in my inventory for a while with an enchantment). I have literally no idea when this item lost its enchantment, so cannot provide a relevant output_log (though I included one anyway in case it happened during this current play session), but I can at least provide a save where this is currently active: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/33yegg8hvh6nh0e/AACMI0rTcpCdAYFHCBTf3Iula?dl=0 Just to reiterate, 4.1/4.1.2 is kind of a trash fire of a regression in gameplay stability.

When you level up in the game you get stat points and feat points to spend. Stats are self explanatory while feats give you knowledge, blueprints, if you like, as to how to build different things; weapons, armor, building pieces, crafting stations, etc. Tier 1 building pieces are made of raw materials, you won't need any crafting stations, you can build everything straight out of your inventory. Sandstone foundation and walls are made of stone + wood and thatch roofing is made of plant fiber + branches. All these components you can either pick up by hand or gather via simple tools you can make from your inventory (stone axe, stone pick). What you see in my pictures is made from the jungle building set. That's not in the base game, a mod added it, but they are tier 2 building pieces, and they, like the tier 2 building pieces that are in the base game, are made of refined materials. They are made of brick + stone consolidant. Brick is stone + wood (for fuel) crafted in the furnace. Stone consolidant is twine + ichor crafted in the cauldron. Twine is super simple it's just plant fiber which you can refine down to twine from your inventory (3 plant fiber makes 1 twine). Ichor is a byproduct of cooking fish. Catch fish in fish trap, put them in the cooking station + wood (for fuel), you get cooked fish and ichor. Twine + ichor in cauldron makes stone consolidant. Brick + stone consolidant from your inventory makes a variety of jungle stone building pieces. I imagine tier 3 building pieces are far more complicated to make, but I haven't looked at them since I'm nowhere near high enough level to buy that feat yet. You can build your structures however you want and however long, wide, and tall... within some limits. Building is done via cubical tiles and the tiles snap together. You can place your first foundation tile facing any direction (and you can raise or lower it to your liking), but after that all the tiles snap together and all the pieces that I've seen so far are either rectangular or triangle shaped, so everything will be at either 45 or 90 degree angles. Maybe tier 3 introduces curved pieces or different angle pieces (30, 60 degree)? No clue about that. Snapping pieces together and rotating them correctly can be a bit finicky at first and there's a bug that will once in a blue moon prevent you from building in a spot, but there are workarounds for it. For the most part you can build anywhere. On flat ground, sloped ground, into the side of a cliff, etc.

Grocery Street claims another hapless victim.

Let me quickly quote myself with the Wikipedia article that says that daggers were used in combat against and by knights in plate armor to stab between the gaps and also to deliver a coup de grace. Also look at several historical art pieces where knights in plate armor carry daggers as backup weapons - maybe not because they were useless once the riding stopped and the grappling started... It's fairly difficult to fight with a two handed sword on a crowded battlefield once formations are lost. Also bad in a dense forest, while wading in water and so on. Then look again at your statement: Hm... Besides that: who said that combatants on medieval or even renaissance battlefields all wore plate armor? Also PoE/Deafire ecounters are not really battles. Bringing a dagger is fairly reasonable for an adventurer and has its pros - but also its cons of course. Mayb that's why Deadfire encourages you to switch weapons based on your opponent's characteristics. Anyway: making light weapons as slow as heavier weapons while retaining the lower damage is not acceptable in a balanced game like Deadfire.

I you put your ear to the ground, you might be able to hear the quiet rumble of Deadfire's internal staging branch on SteamDB. It's been couple months since the last time it was updated... well, before today, that is.

Played a bit more of The Talos Principle. I am enjoying this a whole lot, gotta love a good puzzle game with a weird story to it. At times, it reminds me of Portal.

Athens has a few hills right in the city centre, so I can escape into nature without ever leaving the city or going farther than 30 minutes from my apartment. Since I explored a bit and ignored my local friends, my quality of life increased tenfold

Spend some time lounging in the sun, reading, watching birds and ants and butterflies, and listening to random tourists trampling past.

I would say that all the positive and desirable things I meantioned can become a reality if the developer is bound by the wish to create a game their customers like. The funding method doesn't matter at all as long as you can fund your game and then stay true to your vision/idea of the game. Example: Deadfire didn't need crowdfunding but it was done nonetheless. Was that harmful? Most likely not. Would the game be better if a publisher had funded it? Nobody knows. I'm inclined to say no but very much depends on the publisher. Hence I conclude (again) that crowdfunding is just an alternative form of funding. You can do good things with it or bad things - no matter if you are a big company or a small indie developer. So I see still no reason why Microsoft shouldn't be able to run a crowdfunding campaign for PoE3. Or why it should be questionable or dubious. The only thing I see is that some people think that using crowdfunding is somehow immoral if you have lots of money. As if it was some form of fraud or finagling alms or something. "You don't need to crowdfund, you have the money !" What I'm saying is that money might not be only reason to crowdfund a game (see Deadfire again).

This was the most controversial moment in Game of Thrones' last episode. Spoilers (not really).

"You, as a backer, give money and receive the game as reward" That's incorrect. What you describe is a pre-order. As a backer, you offer money for the project, which the party organizing the crowdfunding has presented to you. Sure, ideally, you want to see the pitched project become reality and receive the final product - most common motivation for backers is to get their hands on said product. However, being a backer doesn't guarantee that you will get that product, or that it will be in the form that was originally pitched. Depending on the project you might get your money back, you might get some kind of product, you might forget that the project exists, until someone reminds you of it (cough, Mandate, cough). Does Microsoft need money to be able to fund PoE3? No. If Microsoft doesn't care to produce PoE3, even though they can afford it, do I trust them that they will care, if consumers pour their money into the game even before the project was created? No. Do I trust Microsoft to keep creative integrity of the project, and put player experience first, before making business decisions, like adding undesirable features, limiting platform on which game will be released, or taking resources away from the niche title if it suits them? No. Microsoft is Obsidian's owner and publisher. Their job is to fund and advertise games and profit from their sales. They bought Obsidian, most likely have a power to dictate (or choose not dictate) what Obsidian, can/will do, decide what platforms they will release on, and how their business model will look like, and the OP suggests that consumers should take the responsibility of funding a game for them? Now, I do hope that the Obsidian's aquisition happened with mutual understanding and that games Obsidian wants to make are games Microsoft wants them to make. I do wish for PoE3 to have place someplace in that understanding. But Obsidian's position has changed, because it is not Obsidian who is calling shots anymore - or in the best case scenario, has a boss which allows them to do as they please, but still has power to change their course if they wish to do so. Trusting folks at Obsidian is just a part of potential crowdfunding - you have to trust Microsoft as well. Would you crowdfund Disney to produce a movie you like? Or EA? By crowdfunding you don't get rights to the title, nor have real influence on its direction. All you can do is hope that the party you gave your money to will held up its end of the bargain, and that they will be interested in listening to your feedback. And it will be a sad day, indeed, if publishers will start extorting money from consumers, even before the production of the game started. Didn't that happen with Shenmue III already? "Give us money so Sony will be kind to allow me to work on a game for them?" We will see how this one will turn out.

I'm going to be the first and only person to post about thanking whoever fixed the auto log-in feature.

If someone told me that film/trailer sat in a vault unreleased for 12 years and was dusted off because one of its producers fell in hard times or whatever, I wouldn't be surprised. Between Jim Carrey's shtick, "Gangsta's Paradise", an approach to the source material that recalls the baffling made-by-an-out-of-touch-comittee feeling of films like Dragon Ball Evolution and The Last Airbender, the woeful CGI and, well, even the choice of source material, this literally feels like a contemporary to these in all the worst ways. But I guess I'm happy Jim Carrey still gets some work nowadays.

The difference you mention is in the motivation to start a crowdfunding campaign. What I meant is: why is a crowdfunding campaign itself worse if the owner of the developer is Microsoft? The outcome for the player would be exactly the same no matter who owns the developer. You, as a backer, give money and receive the game as reward. It's not that you are giving alms. So why would it be a questionable decision from Microsoft's side if they opt for a crowdfunding campaign? It's just a different way of funding. Less risk, sure, but also a lot more work (campaigning is hard work). I would argue that crowdfunding works even better (for the backer) if there's a big company with experienced people and backup cash in the background.

I can't see how crowdfunding with Microsoft as owner is any different from crowdfunding with Obsidian as owner.

Because if you do it for the money, you can't be fooled into a false "we're a family" culture where you'll do things like stay late for no extra pay because you "care".

Someone call a priest.

Have to fill out some creepy motivational survey at work, puzzled why they frame "I do this for the money" as a bad thing in the results.

Back from Sicily, did some rework on the existing icons (no additional ones yet except a few of the PL-0 abilites). I rearranged them all and sorted them by class:

Ironman is less than two weeks aways, and I'm stressing out about tapering. I was out of town this last weekend and didn't get in any long training sessions. I feel like my fitness level is pretty solid, but I'm still worried about the long ride and managing my nutrition. I'd done a bunch of 3-4 hour training sessions, but I'm worried that isn't enough. Most plans call for backing off at this point so the body is rested, but I'd really like to try and put in 5 hours on the bike this weekend. That way I can practice nutrition and get a feel for how being on the bike that long will be. Maybe it is a bad choice, I'm not sure. I also want to get in a two hour run this week, hopefully at race pace, and I need to try and eat during it as well. Basically I'm worried more about food than the exercise.

Thanks everyone but it was the least I could do. Someday, hopefully long from now I will leave this life and quite probably leave a dog or two behind. I've made the best arrangements I can for them but it would be of tremendous comfort knowing someone stepped up. John was a good man. He served as a Marine in Vietnam. But more than that he was a friend and so is Bela. What wouldn't we do for our friends?

I talked to SChin today and he told me that they are currently doing a lot of work on Deadfire (basically, with other words). It seems that they are stuffed with work and that the next patch would be pretty big. Deadfire was in an ok-ish state before TB mode was introduced. Most of the current, most annoying bugs emerged with that introduction. Even if Deadfire was a disappointment for them - they introduced a big, free feature as beta. That doesn't indicate that they abandon ship... like... at all. Why would one think that? Take the radio silence as a hint that they are drowning in work right now. Makes more sense than the assumption they suddenly dropped the potato - out of the blue.

They're doing everything within their power to avoid addressing this issue aside from the occasional vaguely apologetic acknowledgment. It was understandable for the first few months but like you said, it's been a full year now, for Christ's sake.

Tinting is practically done. I am also trying to add more horns and heads options. That is still under construction and will take some time. Here are some examples.