LadyCrimson

I ended the game with a save file of about 5MB I think...load screen times and save times were 10-12 seconds avg.(7200rpm HDD). It's odd how the load times increase for many over time, but vary from really excessive (30+ seconds each screen) to fairly minimal for others (where it's mostly annoying because of multiple load screens in brief spans of time). The patches did make the start-screen list ("loading save games"...) wait time disappear for me but in-game area loads/save increase remains. Every new chr. I make the save/loads are near instantaneous for a while then it slows down.

While I agree in principle (certainly not realistic ) the problem tends to be that if you make it so the player can kill something in 1 stab to the face, you (should) play fair and also let the enemy kill your character with one hit of something as well. While there are some hardcore folk who would enjoy combat encounters which 1-hit kills you on a constant basis, my guess is that's not going to be appealing to most, at least not on a mass scale. Cries of "cheese" "not fun" and "cheating AI" would abound, heh. Which = low sales. There are exceptions of course, but in general. I definitely dislike massive hp sponges and the current combat mechanics so often used "forever" are pretty stale, so I know what you mean, but I also don't like games that 1-shot me just for poking my head in a doorway, so I'm ok with a middle-ground. Depends on the purpose of the game tho...

GoG still has the issue that they're hardly the place for mainstream/new titles. Yet. But yeah...I don't think GoG's vaunted rep. status is going to last all that much longer, personally. Not if they're interested in expanding/being more relevant outside of old/ancient and smaller indie titles, at any rate.

^ This is (imo) the danger of putting too much reliance on one or a few (digital) distribution platforms. They end up with too much power/influence. A potential price that sometimes occurs when people favor convenience over all. Which is why I've never been fond of Steam, even as I now use it because it's sometimes the only choice if I want to play certain games. (edit - by only choice I mean if there's no non-digital choice and Steam is the platform I have/use for those cases).

Heh, MIB came to mind a couple times for me too ... as well as Full Metal Jacket. Watched the 5th episode then went to bed. One thing about the show so far - I think they've made their point that he's "just a human" by now. Does he have to have 2-3 scenes every episode where he gets knocked out in every fight in some way, leaving us to stare at his masked face sideways in the mud for long seconds? We get it - he's not all-powerful. Anyway, I'm enjoying it...I just like poking fun at it at the same time. Will probably watch 5 more tonight.

@Tig - I didn't say "people have a choice" I said letting your mods be free/available to all for free or not was the modder choice. Also, while I said tools may be available for "everyone" of course that = more work for the player who doesn't wish to spend time modding themselves (eg, they just want to download one someone else has made). Work they probably wouldn't do. So yes, while there is a choice, it's not necessarily a choice going to be used. Your point is valid enough, that's the way monetizing services/products tends to fly and yes it always sucks when one is used to something being free. And I don't like that Steam is encouraging it. But I guess I'm one of those evil people who doesn't see anything wrong with it on a moralistic level. *shrug*

Sounds potentially related to the gear/stats/saving bug?...maybe one of the abilities from a piece of enchanted gear (or a gun, if it's changing as you switch) is stacking every time the game saves, even if it's not being displayed outside of the dmg. number. A link to the save game file would probably be helpful (I don't think you can upload/attach the save to the forum, need to use something like Dropbox or your own server and link it).

I don't like it myself, but I don't really see how it stifles open source, it's supposedly up to the creator of the mod whether they want to make it free, donation, or paid? And if someone wants to mod, they can get the same tools if they don't like a price? It does stifle the ability of the player to *use* any mod in their game, if/when some modders get greedy. But the open source/freedom of the modders? Maybe the former is only what you meant? (in which case I do agree).

Totally awesome.

Daredevil - 1st two episodes, liked the father/son bits and the oily yet cool eyeglass wearing henchman. The rest was "ok." Third was all right, although I found myself kind of rolling eyes at the overlong h2d fights. I don't think I'm "connecting" the the Daredevil guy that much - it's not that I don't like the actor, he's good, I just mean the character. But he's better than Batman. 4th episode got serious. By the end I was all like "ok, this is gettin' good." Time to watch the 5th. ...I didn't know Vincent was going to be in it. Soon as the credits rolled on episode 1 I was kinda stoked for that. He is always the bomb. I'm going to like him and the henchman the most, I can tell. I must be evil.

So the excitement/chaos of PoE's release is over, the forums have slowed down, I did finish the game (and tried another game's new alpha), and now, time-wise, there's a slight void, if that makes sense. A now what feeling. I need a break from thinking about (any) gaming stuff at all I think. Seems like a lot of new things on Netflix added the last month or so. Time to drown in some of that. If I can stay awake. But first I'm going to pull a few cookies out of the freezer and heat those up while pondering whether it's time to get ourselves a hotub. It just might be. Soaking in one while having a drink and reading a book sounds pretty appealing these days.

Not for dinner, but just in case you ever want to impress anyone with a fruit hedgehog...because, reasons.

So that's what a drill is for. (I don't think "awesome" is the word I would use...)

*singing off key* "ON A DARK DESERT HIGHWAY, COOL WIND IN MY HAIR..."

Thats kinda the problem, but even game footage wouldn´t do it for me. Rome 2 was so broken (in terms of AI), and every other Total War game was released as a bugy mess, except maybe Rome and Shogun (still problems), that i just can´t allow myself to be excited. I´m very very cautions about this. I still have never played any of the Total Wars (I own Rome but ...) but I do get the cinematic trailer issue. Entertaining they can be, but they tell you nothing of the game itself. Just meant to build excitement.

Got it. I knew I'd heard that vocal timbre before, especially around the 1:20 mark. He's much older now of course. Gads time flies.

That voice sounds really familiar ... must ... figure it out. The trailer is cinematically entertaining.

I'd actually have liked that more than the figurines - for one thing it could have required more points in Lore for all chrs. to be able to use, vs. buying all the figurines and just dumping them on all chrs as perm. quick items. Anyway it just would have been nice if some crafting had felt more unique/fun, vs. largely about utility.

In terms of drive space, sivas has the idea. Isometric and smaller area in individual maps does not always = small data footprint.

Need to do housework but unmotivated today. Which means I'll probably snort awake on the couch with a cat on my face again. Thinking about dinner already...something done in the wok I imagine. Maybe there's a new movie on VoD that would seem interesting. Hubby wants a metal/plastic lathe ... I keep telling him we should build a giant workshop in the backyard for him, vs. the cramped 1-car garage. I don't care about that big rectangle of grass at all, so he could cover it entire with a tall/long shed or something, but so far he hasn't done it. :D

Some flames burn bright but don't last long. It happens. Caught a few minutes of some random localized games the other day. It still amuses me when announcers made all these comments/predictions/analysis regarding a players current season stats (not lifelong/last season) ... when it's still April. Yeah I know ... it's a stat game. It still amuses me.

If you have the rogue-like npc with you he makes a comment as you approach them the first time. If you hold the TAB key down they highlight and clicking them gives you a message I think. Then you just click each one to light them with the torches (if not a fire godlike). Once disabled I don't think you can reenable them. Although I think the pillar method does not disable ALL of them. More like disables a path through them.

Yep. Get the best weapons/armors/shields that don't already have a quality enchantment (but have other unique enchantments), and add a quality enchantment on top of it. There's no real reason not to do it. Agreed ... on the other hand, it's largely the only thing really worth doing, imo. And none of them are very interesting, just important because of mechanics reasons (accuracy accuracy accuracy). I'm sure on PotD food/scrolls and other buffs are much more vital at times but you can just buy a lot of them vs. crafting them. I didn't find crafting useless but except in the most punishing circumstances (early PotD and/or small party/solo), it's just not very interesting and certainly not vital to what might be considered the "average" player. And I usually love crafting in rpg's. It's often one of my favorite parts. Although tis true one of my fave things about such in other games is the hunt for the ingredients, which in PoE felt somewhat lackluster. I would have preferred being able to get more as random loot off enemies, containers and more to pick in the "wild" etc. vs. being so much in the stores or a random Stronghold thingie.

A month of playing PoE off and on = I can't get back into "survival" or building modes. Not in the mood to dig holes for hours. And as usual if I look at Steam nothing much appeals. So...I guess I'll play some more PoE. Maybe load and finish the dungeon. Or continue my PotD save, which is basically at the point where my party of 4 is staring at the walls of the crumbled Stronghold wondering if it wants to go in (probably not). Or I could just go read a book.