kalimeeri
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Posts posted by kalimeeri
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Gaeta ran in the camp to give Chief the list of executioneesin person.
He did, but I don't think that meant anything to Chief. It was information that Gaeta would logically have had access to, and it was an action any human might have been expected to do. And it's not like Chief would stop to have an 'OMG you're the mole!' conversation after seeing the list and whose names were on it. He had to get moving.
That moment did set me back for a minute, though. Made Chief look like an idiot, for not knowing what was so obvious to us.
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I never messed with it much, but I was thinking that it was also dependent on your influence when you asked about her mother. A couple times that dialogue never came up for me, probably due to low CHA or INT, and I never got the robes. I really don't have much use for HM, though, and it didn't matter. Can't stand her attitude, but there was some joy in converting her from a spy to a Jedi. Take that, Atris!
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The FF series has some of the more memorable stories and characters, although I've only played two of them myself: FFVII and FFVIII, because they came out for PC. I liked them both, and wish they'd port over FFX. The rest I don't care about (but in all fairness, my kid hasn't got to FFVI yet). Shame about XI being an MMO.
I do look forward to Square releases, and there are only a couple that I actively dislike. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be any way of predicting that. X-2's reviews were good, and a lot of people liked it; I didn't (lame dialogue, sloooww initial pacing, too much extra padding to make up for lack of content.) IMO, this was exactly the same situation as with Advent Children (showing what happened to the characters afterward), and would have made a better movie than game. But that's just my opinion
. (Somehow I feel the need for an emoticon with a fire extinguisher, but I'm graphics-challenged.) I've followed FFXII and it sounds kind of iffy. Music has always been a big part of the FF games, but XII has only a couple tracks by Uematso; the rest is unimpressive. The characters look to be modeled well enough, but I hope they've given some serious thought to character development, because the storyline sounds only so-so. The battle system doesn't really matter, if there's nothing to capture and hold the imagination. Too many games like that already.
But in any case, I have enough questions that this will be a 'used game' purchase, as in not full-price. I wish it didn't have to be that way, and I hope it proves me wrong.
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Telos and Dantooine are no problem. We already know from K1 that Czerka are evil, exploiting bastages. Khoonda made its own bed when it invited the mercenaries on board, but it was that or starve to death; its leader had to make some hard choices, but at least she did it with her eyes open.
Onderon is a different matter. I always side with Talia, but I always ask myself why. Yes, she is the 'rightful' ruler, and it isn't fair for Vaklu to take it from her. But since when does that alone make her the better choice? Logically, she isn't. (And I don't like her. She comes across as a pouty, spoiled princess who hired herself a Jedi to keep the big bad usurper away; and she has nary a clue about how to do the same for her planet. Onderon doesn't have the luxury of a 'learning curve', and it's hard not to see that as a big opportunity for the continuing 'support' of the Jedi Council. <_<)
If the issue is Onderon's survival, then the colony needs a strong leader more than it needs to rely on an archaic tradition. Vaklu is a proven military leader, he has the colony's preservation at heart, and for what it's worth, he is part of the royal family. If Talia has to resort to hiding in her castle, he obviously already owns the balance of power, even without the Sith. It's a gamble either way, but the odds seem to favor Vaklu.
Of course, reason doesn't work here. Both Vaklu and Talia are just pawns in the Sith/Jedi struggle; it isn't really about them or preserving a culture at all. All I can say is poor, stupid Onderon. R.I.P.
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The issue isn't the games, it's control and liability, and this just isn't going to work.
Teachers can't control some of the kids in classrooms, despite the 'rules'. It is those bad actors who take harmless playground games too far. But I fail to see how making another rule is going to stop them. They will play their version of 'tag' regardless, and other less aggressive (or even spectating) children will still get hurt.
Nor does their 'rule' absolve the school system of liability. Now they have to find a means of enforcing it--if they don't, they are even more likely to get sued. It *is* their mess, regardless of how many times they say it isn't.
Many folks do walk around with a chip on their shoulders, looking for any reason to sue someone else, in hopes of winning big $. But I dare anyone who cares about their child to say that they wouldn't be enraged if he/she was seriously injured in such a situation. Minor bumps and bruises are expected, but an injury that will affect the rest of a person's life is what all parents fear and try to protect against.
But the fact is that they can't. School is mandatory--and while a child is there, parents must relinquish its care and protection to others. If the school system fails to live up to its responsibility, especially through negligence or incompetence, they're lawyer-fodder. Blamecasting and revenge are just human nature; and sometimes it actually fills the more useful purpose of preventing a future tragedy.
This won't. It's stupid, because a bully or a bad actor is all about violating rules.
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The movies are beautiful and they do play back properly. There is a second or two delay while they load, because they are huge. You can try changing the resolution the game is running in, and see if that helps; but I think not every video card can perform the necessary acrobatics to display them.
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Don't know if this one was already posted, but it's worth watching again:
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I've played K2 through many times, and had no problems in the steam tunnels until I upgraded to my new (first) Nvidia card. ATI 9600 breezed right through even Dantooine with the .ini file fix, but this 7600 got my character completely stuck on the most recent playthrough (using 1GB system ram). Just sayin', upgrading to a newer Gforce might not be the answer. I was pretty toasted at the time because K2 was the first game I'd played with it.
I know the exact spot he's talking about. I think I ended up having to restore a previous savegame and run my PC at an area that had the least steam effect, rinse and repeat. If it's any consolation, that was the only place in the whole game that happened. And skipping Peragus isn't an option, for some folks who want to play the game the way it was intended.
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Gnomes are unpopular and annoying, true. But is that because they've been stereotyped, or because being born a gnome (and the subject of universal ridicule) would warp anyone just a tad?
Having scripted companions is not a deal-breaker; in fact I prefer it over IWD-style roll-your-own-party. I believe the IWD story suffered for it. Character would have added needed dimension; and realistically, one can't always pick the folks one has available to complete a task, or completely control the direction when other sentients are involved. Don't forget that most of the memorable companions and villains in any past game have been created and forced on you--what matters is how they're written.
So bring on your gnome. Could be interesting.
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Bad timing for such a bold move, if that's true. The majority of PC owners don't have dual core processors, and aren't likely to buy one (or a 360) for the sake of playing their game. So when it doesn't sell, are they more likely to admit they made a mistake, or declare the PC market dead?
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One word: Anachronox.
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Yeah, many of the Wii titles aren't looking very good, but I think it's mostly the devs that need to shoulder most of the blame rather than the hardware itself.
Can't say I blame them for adopting a 'wait and see' attitude.
It costs a lot of $ to develop a game. Since 2 of the 3 major systems have yet to appear on the shelves, it's hard to project how many games might be sold to recoup the investment. At the 'suggested retail' prices shown for the consoles so far, it's a fair bet that not too many ordinary folks are going to have more than one, at least initially.
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I grew up with snow. Froze my *** off, and got very weary of dressing up like a kapok golem just to go to the store. Nowadays the closest I want to get to it is Bruma :D , and that makes me shiver. So I guess I won't ever understand the fascination some have with it; I'm just glad they do, or my south sea island would get pretty crowded.
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In no particular order:
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I'd like to think that the romance is an important part of the story.
Given what the Jeedi did to Revan, and considering that he was THE Sith Lord and possibly from the Outer Regions, does he owe the known galaxy and the people in it anything? Why would he care?
Bastila.
He always intended to return, but probably more as a conqueror than a savior--he was ruthless during the Mando wars. Normally, he would probably have hated her too. But it is possible to like or even love someone while hating what they have done; and caring about someone does change people when nothing else could. (That goes for her, too; and I still think she has a part to play in the final act. That's just Revan.)
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Learning this reality made me a real sceptic about the things usa government or usa organisations claim to be true. And more importantly I have scientific proofs for that like the link I made.
And you are giving conspiracy theorists everywhere a bad name. They know who you are.
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1) 26
2) 44
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Oops, I'm seeing a trend here...
4) 23
(Fixed)
5) 22
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Has anybody watched The Closer?
Humor, well-drawn and acted characters, interesting plots... pulls off subtle visual hints and interactions pretty well, if you like that sort of stuff.
The first season is on DVD @ Netflix.
Since Scrubs, Battlestar Galactica and Reno911 are all still on vacation, the only other show I keep up with is Rescue Me (although sometimes I'm not really sure why, other than I like Dennis Leary). It lost whatever point it had long ago, but still does drama and camera work/music pretty well.
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Prisons do not rehabilitate people; they're simply a device to lock them away so they can't harm someone else. The danger of commuting such a sentence to 'life' out of a legal technicality is that a new generation will come along and not care. Sorry in advance for the rant and all, but I care.
People, I lived in LA, California in 1969. No one really gave a crap that Manson might choose to live differently; this was the '60's--there were hundreds of communes, and that was all right as long as they bothered no one. Usually they didn't, aside from the families of the runaways who chose to join them.
Lovable 'Charlie' was an exception. He was not singled out, and he was NOT railroaded. Manson and his followers simply wanted people to know who and what they were--the new messiah and/or antichrist--and they brought their vision of the future to the public. Manson's group had utter disdain for others' lives and others' laws; and all that equals 'evidence'. Written on the walls, and splattered as high the ceilings. There was no reasonable doubt, even though the prosecution's theory would have been a hard sell to any jury; and 'fair trial' can not just apply to suspects. The things they did to those people were unspeakable; their victims could and would have been anyone, at any time ... just 'because'. And it would have continued.
Manson should have been put to death years ago--he will never be a useful or even harmless member of society. If you multiply the yearly cost of housing, food, medical, and custodial services by the number of years he has been in prison--never mind the risk of parole--the electric chair is a bargain.
Leslie van Houten was one of Manson's favorites and one of his most devoted followers, which is probably why he gave her the 'honor' of going along. Realistically, she was very young and obviously impressionable, and Manson was a dominating, charismatic individual. But where is she going to go? Where can she expect to be accepted? Other than the odd movie or book deal, is there any place she will actually fit in? At the time of the trial, the courthouse was surrounded by the not-so-favorite followers, harassing the people and disrupting the proceedings; they write to him and support him still. You do the math. Chances are, she is sorry for all the years she wasted in prison, and she likely will never kill again. She will get out. But she is a nut in her own right, and Manson is in her delusional system. Not too sure I'd feel comfortable with her living next door. YMMV.
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I foresee a lot of saving and reloading going on before conversations.
Hades and Tigranes are right: human communication is a combination of expression, intent, and words. Varying just one alters the character and the meaning (I think it was Hamlet who said 'one can smile and smile, and be a villain'?). Given just one to express the player's wishes for controlling the PC, the one most likely to convey the desired sentiment is the written/spoken word. Much power is hidden there.
I like Bioware's approach toward the importance of story. I think they are on the right track, in thinking that facial expression and body language will enhance conversations, but I also think they have oversimplified. The surprise factor is a gimmick that will lose its appeal rather quickly.
At least half the time, the surprises will be the bad kind; they will not be what the player intended. Yet they will certainly affect the outcome of the conversation, maybe even of the game. It might be fun to hear what Bioware thinks the PC was actually saying, but it destroys any illusion of control that the player may have.
(Aw, *&^#!. Save. Reload.)
The player will end up choosing a response by memorization, not by thinking of the possible consequences.
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No matter how pretty it is or how much MS hypes it, Vista is still just an operating system.
Big businesses may be interested, from a security standpoint. But to me as a general all-around end-user, the goal of any OS is to glue all the hardware bits together and allow me to run my applications. I rarely even think about it--unless it doesn't work; if I have a task to perform (or a game to play!) I don't want to have to think about it; and I sure don't see the point of upgrading if Vista doesn't make my current (and perfectly functional) hardware bits or the applications I paid to use run any better. And as for extras like (gasp) DVD burning, if I need that functionality, I probably already have an app that does it ten times better than anything MS has or will build in.
If MS stops supporting XP, it's no big thing. It runs just fine right out of the box with only SP1; and at this point, it appears they're only patching the patches anyway.
When a Vista-only app comes along that I can't live without, then I might think about it. But judging by the public's ambivalent response, that might be some time--not many dev's can afford to sink all of their resources into a proprietary interface that may or may not sell all that quickly.
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Got to love the fact that Playstation 3 was numero uno on Webhallen's top 20 preorder list before this announcement. Two hours later, it was fourth. It's fifth right now. Poor Sony.
Not so sure I would go with 'poor'.
a) Rootkit.
b) Millions of crappy laptop batteries (Dell, HP, etc).
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Exile isn't a beacon--exactly the opposite. Nihilous is attracted to those strong in the force and Exile has none of his own; Visas said she noticed an odd echo, but that was all. The only reason they're coming after him is because Atris helpfully pointed him out as the 'last of the Jedi', which was true enough for her purposes. I think this is a key point to proving why the Jedi could not handle the new Sith threat--even the masters can't defend against something they can't detect, while the enemy can see them coming a light-year away.
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Funny you should mention that, because I read an article talking about ATi/AMD creating a high end integrated solution.
Such a solution might be useful in small devices (palmtops and the like), possibly even in networked workstations for uniformity, but hardly attractive for high-end gaming and graphics. One of the articles I read about the merger did acknowledge that.
But as far as physics, etc. cards go, these additional 'helper' cards do seem to be a candidate for all-in-one integration on the graphics card itself. Until that happens, the technology won't become mainstream, because it's not enough of an advance to justify the cost or space requirement. (I think it's Nvidia's turn to roll.)
. (Somehow I feel the need for an emoticon with a fire extinguisher, but I'm graphics-challenged.) 
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Antivirus and framerates
in Skeeter's Junkyard
Posted
I'd rather run several small, light apps than a heavy integrated one any day. Symantec lost me as a longtime loyal customer several years ago because of performance, footprint, and overall intrusiveness in every part of the OS. McAffee went that way several years before. After sorting through various issues with most everything else on the market (AVG included), I'm happy with NOD32. Mostly because it's possible to just forget about it.