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Counterpoint: he invented the Riker Maneuver. Your argument is invalid. No, the other Riker Maneuver.

There he is! Pelt him!

Invalid due to several reasons: 1) that's popular opinion 2) that's popular and true opinion due to later games apparently being ****.

Ah good old days. I remember when someone argued Half-Life is an RPG, because you play the role of Gordon Freeman.

St. Patrick’s Day partiers hit the town over officials’ pleas amid coronavirus outbreak *sigh* is hard to be angry with the guy who earns a living via a day gig when he decides to violate certain reasonable cdc guidelines in order to keep working, but this is not same. is not a story 'bout a guy desperate to support self and kids 'cause he gots no savings and is literal a couple days o' day-work away from being homeless. ... the real reason bernie sanders' campaign were doomed is 'cause the young people he were counting on to get him the nomination are broken. they won't vote, but the saturday 'fore st. patrick's day they will go out to packed bars in chicago and pittsburgh and southie where they use hand sanitizer to clean their conscience as well as their hands. terrible reality is most o' the boneheads in packed bars tonight won't get serious sick 'cause the under 40 crowd is less vulnerable to covid-19 serious symptoms and are unlikely to die or need hospitalization. sure, the younger folks still become infected, but they do not suffer as does the elderly or those with underlying med conditions. somebody else's grandparent, two degrees o' separation removed from these party clowns, is gonna die and the revelers will never even know they were the cause. meanwhile, spain locks it down and people in italy, where they is subject to wartime triage practices 'cause hospitals cannot handle the numbers o' sick, are continuing to die in increasing numbers. and folks on this side o' the pond shrug and wonder what is all the excitement 'bout while they blame media or a political party for yet another hoax which is invisible but lethal?

He's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and gets everywhere? FWIW I liked Sand in NWN2.

While I disagree overall the last bit is the most important reason as to why I would not pick K2; I'd also add that the similarities to Planetscape Tournament are also a factor. K2 is very much a try at deconstructing Star Wars the same way as PST deconstructed the typical D&D game/ campaign and shares some very obvious and direct similarities thematically and plot wise. So if you wanted to play a K2 like game thematically you could always play PST instead. If you wanted the same sort of deconstruction applied specifically to Star Wars you can go read Traitor or some of the other EU stuff dealing with Vergere- as it's pretty obvious Chris Avellone had done before writing K2- or an alternative type of deconstruction like Shatterpoint. So to my mind the question if I had to pick one Obsidian game to save is effectively "which of their best game is most unique?" which is Alpha Protocol. There isn't much to separate it from MOTB*/ FONV/ K2 in terms of personal preference, but those games all have obvious alternatives I could play to get a similar result, AP doesn't really. *Not NWN2 OC though. Don't think I've ever had such a negative reaction to one NPC before but he completely ruined the game for me.

Eh, Far Cry might have an upgrade/leveling system but nobody would call it an RPG outside of contrarians. We can argue about the specifics of what makes a genre what it is, but at the end of the day you look at a racing game with 30 cars, 20 guns, a shallow incremental +5% speed/handling/acceleration advancement system, 2 endings and it's a racing game. Not an RPG, or an FPS, and certainly not a Puzzle-RTS.

I admit I have yet to play Alpha Protocol. Right now, hands down Pillars of Eternity 1. One of the best games I've ever played.

NSFW and all that

You want a secret handshake with that aswell? What are we, the shriners? And yeah, AP without the shadow of a doubt. It's unique.

Indeed, and that's a big source of my unhappiness these days. Far too many games that claim to be RPGs are in reality tactical combat games with a bit of RPG mechanics thrown in.

Been playing Magic the Gathering: Arena . Lot of fun, lose some, win some.. But its relaxing to have matches . And there is no chat, so you don't hear Toxic stuff or abuse when you oblirate someone lol they just bail and cancede! Love avernum and Geneforge serie. But I played the 1st Avadon..and it just doesn't have the same....that something y'know ? Hope you like it though.

Knocked 'em out the lox.

So, did you win?

In a sign of how yuppie Toronto is, there was a fist fight in a bakery over bagels. Of all things for people to lose their civility over in a crisis.

See, I see Kotor II as an unfinished sequel that only sold because of the IP, but as a game had nothing to offer beside the recognized (and in my opinion vastly overrated) IP, to which it added nothing more significant than what had been put out there in various Extended Universe material. For the Star Wars IP I'd argue the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy - which took the thirst of fans for something involving Boba Fett, build up the mystique around Mandalorians and the character, created a number of characters that would pop up in stories and products and survive the redconing of the EU, and most significantly proved that a story can be told in the IP that was not about the Force or Jedi or Sith - is far more important and did far more for it. I'll confess, I hardly remember anything about Kotor II. The original Kotor had a relatively forgettable story, but the twist was well done and memorable, and the companions' reactions very enjoyable. About MotB I remember that you were a spirit eater or something like that. There was a spirit bear that could join you if you didn't eat it. There was a part celestial. There was an eloquent companion you found locked up in jail? And his story tied in with some hags? Now about Alpha Protocol, I could never find that dossier in the museum in Rome that would get Alan Parker to turn on Marburg. That said, I do have a question for you: Cone to go?

actually, I still see articles about KOTOR II pop up every now and then, 15+ years after the game's initial release. and yeah, you're probably right about HK and Kreia being the characters that are quoted the most. I say it's historically significant mainly thanks to its IP. nobody outside the small circle of Infinity Engine RTWP fans knows about PoE, and I'd argue even the extremely well made and critically acclaimed New Vegas is nowhere near as well known as KOTOR II. it's culturally significant precisely because it deconstructs the SW mythos in a believable way, and at the same time it expands and enriches the SW universe. MotB tried to do something similar, but its scope was too limiting, its characters - too forgettable (IMO), and it was weighted down by its mechanics. Alpha Protocol was another great concept wrapped inside a mediocre shooter, unfortunately, even though I do love its reactivity. I also don't see any particular value in Obsidian "having control over their own IP" as a gamer. I couldn't care less what world the game takes place in. I also think Obsidian was at its best when making sequels to other companies' games, because their sequels would be better than the originals. every time Obsidian released a game I'd closely watch their announcements because it was exciting for me to think what other worlds they could put their spin on. in short, games like KOTOR II come around once in a blue moon: it's a great idea built around an already good game, only flaw being its unfinished state. and the fact that KOTOR II, Alpha Protocol and MotB are brought up the most in a lot of discussions about Obsidian to me is a testament to these games' significance, with KOTOR II obviously being the most important because it paved the way for the rest of them (both in materialistic and idealistic sense).

julia child and fred rogers HA! Good Fun!

I fail to see the historical importance of Kotor. For that I could only see PoE with it's Kickstarter success and possible effect on what games got a chance to be made because of it. Kotor has a fanbase, but it did nothing for gaming. You don't even see it quoted that often in gaming discussions. And besides HK and Kreia, what else about the game do most people even remember? What the game left us is a robot who calls people Meatbags and an old woman who tries to justify immorality. And as significance for Obsidian goes, PoE is the game that allowed them to work their own IPs again. Kotor, NWN, even Stick of Truth, those just kept the lights on. Not judging though, I mean, I voted AP - the game that got overlooked, and had tons of problems.

The art style in this game is so freakin' good. 99% of the time I'll take a really well put together stylized aesthetic over realistic graphics. The bonus is that stylized tends to be less taxing on hardware than realistic, and this game runs like 100 billion bucks on my PC.

Putting my hands down next to Mamoulian War's. Alpha Protocol has choices that matter, interesting characters, great dialogue. The only problem is Thorton's unreasonable dislike for SIE. The problem with this poll is that it has not been sanctioned with Steven Heck and is therefor lacking a proper code name. I move to name this poll Rubber Kangaroo.

Hands down Alpha Protocol, because of it's uniqueness, c&c, and replayability.

Yet to watch it, but knowing his critiques it’s gonna be good. Edit: manages to give voice to many problems I wasn’t able to properly articulate.

So did I in reality. I was always a bit disappointed either he or Qara ended up fighting you at the end.

I think that's doing the game a disservice. In a universe defined by simplistic, binary morality, KotOR 2 was the first a Star Wars product which acknowledged that - in the end - EVERYTHING about the setting amounted to blue lightsabers clashing against red lightsabers. It saw right through the inherent absurdity of the material and offered a concept that (as far as I know) no other franchise writer would explore again: that perhaps the Star Wars galaxy would be better off without the Force, whether light or dark. If the entire canon is just hundreds if not thousands of years of technicolor space wizards tearing each other apart, with no real progress happening, then what does this say about the Force? What is the point of it all? Ah, right. KotOR 2 took a popular video game series in a huge media franchise and found the stones to say out loud "hey, here is why it sucks". However, more than anything else, it also showed that the setting had potential to grow beyond its constraints - it offered a glimpse into what a mainstream Star Wars story could be if it wasn't afraid to ask questions instead of regurgitating the same old lanes of "Self-Insert OC Jedi #13 fights Wish-Fulfillment OC Sith #32". Sure, some people would say that it's not exactly groundbreaking and that Avellone simply rehashed his staples (Ravel -> Kreia etc). Still, to me, it's quite an extraordinary effort when you consider that the game managed to successfully elevate stuff that George Lucas thought up on the spot in a phone call. EDIT: I read the post below. I was talking out of my ass - KotOR 2 wasn't the first. I stand corrected.

I am quite shocked by overwhelming popularity of Alpha Protocol. It's a curious game, but broken in so many aspects I wouldn't even consider it. New Vegas easily for me. Many of Obsidian games are interesting but held back by something. New Vegas is simply great.

Yeah, that's why I was asking. Seems like some people have more requirements.

This is how I've always understood it; is it not so? That cRPG = computer role-playing game. Honest question.

Alpha Protocol without a doubt. It's quite flawed, but what that game does well it does brilliantly.

I can play that too: Star Trek V is better than TMP.

Done before but still funny

Reddit AMA. "We really don’t want to spoil anything but we wouldn’t call it Baldur’s Gate 3 if there wouldn’t be a link. Let me just say that we touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in meaningful ways, there are returning characters and what happened in BG 1/2/tob leads to what happens into BG3. You won’t necessarily see that at the start of the adventure but you will quickly understand once you get further into the game."

I think Discworld is one of those series iconic enough for almost everyone to know through popcultural osmosis. At least when you're an Obsidian board regular.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/03/12/rep_katie_porter_vs_cdc_director_coronavirus_testing_costs_1330_administration_can_make_it_free.html?jwsource=cl

I've been under the weather, as is my way every wintery season, and am currently making the same soup for the second time this month. Sopa de Fideo 1 bag 7 oz-ish fideo (the little thin short noodles) tomatoes or as I prefer to just buy a 14.5 oz can of stewed tomats, diced 1 bunch cilantro, chopped - just the leafy part small handful garlic, halved 1 onion, sliced chicken broth - however much makes a decent pot size oil, I prefer olive oil - enough to coat the pasta well salt, pepper, spices - I like to use Goya brand adobo with cumin, a dash of Lawry's, and crushed red pepper but you can taste it as you can and adjust to your liking Throw the broth, tomatoes, garlic into a pot and bring it to a light/medium light boil * Fry the noodles in a pan with the oil until they are nice and browned. More brown is preferable to less brown and some should be fairly dark. Toss the onion in the pan while it's still somewhat early in the browning process, they don't need to be fully cooked through but I like the texture of lightly frying them before putting them in the pot Dump that in the broth you have going, stir, and add cilantro Let that cook for a bit and then you're done *I like to punch it up a little bit and add a little extra chicken bullion (Better than Bullion is my go to here) and sliced fresh jalapeno Also made some shrimp recipe that I got from my mom, one of few dishes that she ever taught me to make. If you hate how my usual recipes are somewhat directionless then you're really in for a treat here. shkrimps, whatever you prefer but I go for the cooked, peeled, deveined, tail on but raw and all the same works great if you can find it kalamata olives chopped with some juice garlic crushed or chopped lemon juice parsley dried or fresh crushed red pepper an Italian spice blend white wine butter optional sun dried tomats finely chopped optional chunk of crusty bread Everything but the shrimp and parsley (and bread if you are using it) into the pot and bring to a light boil and reduce heat a little Taste the broth and adjust portions to your liking (sorry but this is how almost all recipes go back home) Once you have that then toss in the shrimp and sprinkle with parlsey and cover. This cooks quick so you probably want to constantly monitor it. I think this kind of thing is somewhat obvious but my wife is the queen of walking away from the stove for way too long. You'll want to give it at least one good stir but may need more depending on how much shrimp you tossed in there and the size of your pot Went the shrimp start curling up then take it off the heat and give it one last stir and toss more parsley on top give it a moment with the lid on and then serve.