LadyCrimson

Yeah, I know it's not a likely technical scenario to try to police everything, or even close to it, even if you had millions. But you can at least make the good jolly try, to show companies etc. that you're trying/in good faith and all of that. YouTube, for example, isn't what I'd call exactly successful (heh) at keeping copyright stuff off, but with their automated algorithm programs for music and keywords (MLB footage, for example, is pretty much yanked off YouTube as soon as it's uploaded) it's at least something. Do I always like that it means that sometimes someone's video of their baby walking around to half the length of a famous pop tune gets censored? No. But it's one of the better middle-grounds that I've seen re: this type of thing so far.

Y'know, seems like Pirate Bay and other such places that claim they don't actually have anything to do (from their business side perspective) with piracy could easily manage complaints by actually monitoring what people upload. eg, approved uploads. And then not approve anything that has region/copyright still attached to it, if they're concerned about keeping those regions active to their site. But they complain that would be too much work/cost or perhaps technically too prohibitive/less "free" (boohoo - can't afford it, maybe you should find another business/hobby) and of course would mean their sites may not get as much traffic/use as they'd like, for whatever reasons. Point being, while I do believe there are legitimate uses for torrent file sharing, there are ways to minimize the piracy-use of such claimed "freedom of expression" sites to the point where companies/specific country courts might leave them alone a lot more often. They just (seem to) choose not to. ....then again, what to do I know about such things. I'm just a dumb Western idiot who doesn't think personal rights necessarily trumps property/creative rights.

Now I want a pizza too. *attempts putting on tinfoil hat of food resistance* I keep locking hubs outside accidentally. I go out the side garage door and when I go back in, locking it is auto-pilot. Problem is hubs is often sitting in the yard in a chair under a tree, in the shade having a quiet break moment or something. He doesn't say anything to me and I don't notice he's out there (I think he's still in his office) and thus a bit later I hear rustling by my office window and his voice floating in "Hey wife, I know you want to get rid of me, but could you unlock the door please."

Playing the GW3 beta (even for the brief time I did) broke my Risen2 momentum and today I find myself sitting here at the PC, thinking I'll play Risen2 and yet not turning the game on. ....*pokes self*... c'mon LC, don't be this way yet again, turn it on. You know you want to.

If the graphical pop-in/flicker bothers you a lot, I'm told that apparently you can try tweaking the XML config file to improve things. I haven't tried it (got used to it, after a while I barely notice it anymore) but there it is. http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16967

That's a better trailer, that actually had the "meh" side of my brain perk up a little bit, if for nothing else but for some of the awesome camera/scenery work. But yeah...shows a lot. Nearly 3 minutes, that's a long movie trailer.

...oooooo, tech porn. Don't tease me so. And it's metallic casing. *fapfap* But I think I can wait for the dual 890 or 1090 or whatever, which will probably need a mini-nuclear reactor to power them.

Ah...that might seem more likely. Haven't played that one. The danger of using acronyms...there are almost always more than one meaning to them. That said, there have been some things about Risen2 that have idly reminded me of Two Worlds2. Nothing I can really put my finger on tho...maybe it's just some of the graphics.

I've heard the theory that it's (in part) because as we get older, for many of us, life starts to become more and more routine....thus we build up less new experiences and staggered moments of time to gauge time by. The more stable and routine life becomes, the less you have to pay attention to the passage of long-term time because it's more mentally automatic, if that makes sense. Work, home, chores/errands, play, work, home, etc. Then that awesome vacation to Timbucktu. Then back to work, home, etc. It's not that you aren't aware of time, or don't check your watch to make sure you aren't late...it's just not stuff you tend to keep in the forefront of experience memory. Thus the "6 months have gone by, what did I do/where did it go?" syndrome.

Just wondering if you still feel this way. I couldn't get into TW2 much after some initial forays. I may give it another chance someday. (this is assuming TW2=Two Worlds2...if not...never mind...)

Missed some of tonight's episode, I'll catch it later. But I loved the look on Tyrion's face when he beheld all those jars of wildfire or whatever it was.

Btw....speaking of Final Fantasy... ...I think it's funny, actually. In a good way.

Played a little more. Can't speak for story stuff obviously, but early items and inventory remind me heavily of WoW (or maybe just generic MMO these days). You have your usual "adds +10 to something for 10 minutes" type food items. You have soulbound loot/items. Extra little bags for making inventory bigger. Typical MMO chr. classes, with their own skill variations. Environment still felt very fantasy-generic in the early area at least. All of this is, of course, just IMO. The "Event" concept is sort of interesting. I don't fully understand it but I guess it's more efficient and it's nice you don't have to party (?) and other such ... but it was initially confusing because you're walking along and get a msg. about an event, and if you "complete" it you may not entirely realize why or who to turn it in to, or if you even have to turn it in to anyone. The beta had no tutorial and I didn't find the in-game info on stuff very helpful for my slow-to-adapt brain, so I felt very lost. The world/map looks very large. I felt a little overwhelmed with GUI, keymap, and world learning curve and didn't play very long. Example: I saw a hoe on the ground and picked it up. My chr. equipped it and then for long minutes I couldn't figure out what it was for or how to unequip it so I could go back to bashing with my mace - it didn't seem to be in my actual inventory, no explanation. I know I'm not the brightest/fastest - especially these days - but...anyway, nothing a good manual or wiki couldn't fix. I think graphically it's nothing outstanding. Good to ok from a distance but not as impressive in most things close up (polygonal cats/fish, low textures). I did see some chr. class pets that looked kinda cool tho. It's very colorful, over-saturated in certain things/areas, and if you like that, it's eye-catchy. It does look nice overall and I didn't see over-use of bloom in this one. Certainly a lot better than the first game. The beta hardly made my GPU usage meter go up at all (like 20%). While it looks a bit interesting, especially for free, I think for me I'd need to read a lot of wiki pages first, and (being me) I definitely don't like the "it's just an MMO" feeling now. It felt hard to feel alone during my initial starter foray. If I check it out I'll probably wait 6 months for crowds to lessen. Here is 1920x1080 in a spot that's not color-overwhelming, w/most things on High, can't remember if I had AA on or not.

Very nice, Malcador. Wish I had an outdoor view like that from somewhere indoors.

I charge into the fray: Bit later, it was over, and some cutscene stuff, I am then tossed into a room: After that fast paced and utterly confusing intro, I needed a break. I'm old. I like the look, the colors, the effects in the game. I did take a glance at the skills for my class, noticed the lock symbols/method of acquiring them. Movement felt smooth but wish there was a mouse-speed option slider. Anyway, I'll take another peek soon. See if I can get to the point where I feel like I'm actually playing.

Ok, a kind benefactor enabled me to take a peek at the GW2 beta. Don't have time to really make judgements tho, to be clear. So far, I was amused by my total sense of confusion by the intro. First I made a character: I entered the game to chaos - rain, battle, thunder sounds. NPC's yelling at me to "go here". So I did. Told to "go there." So I did. Keep in mind I know nothing about the game, so I'm all confuddled. I get to a bridge. After finally figuring out how to draw my weapon (not the game's fault, btw) I get past that and go thru a building to the other side: (guess there's a limit to attachment size per post...last 4 pics in next post)

Hurlshot and I have the same notion re: ideal library. Except in that pic, I'd probably put another tall free-standing bookshelf or three in the middle of the lower floor. I have no need for area rugs and dance-room space in my library. And Raithe - yeah..between books, old magazine collections, and DVD collections I could put up wall-to-floor shelves and line a couple rooms with them all, but at the moment I just keep out ones I re-read frequently. If I was rich I'd buy a lot more hardback/reference, photo, and non-fiction books for my fantasy library, too. Before digital books completely take over. :/

Hm, the shiny armor pic on that page is still a bit too reflective in a few spots for my tastes, but I do like the overall texture/design of the armor a fair bit.

Tried taking the boots off etc, still no option to mention them. I'll try a 2nd item.

Btw, re: the lockpick quest ... do I need to get all of Largo's clothes back? I thought I only had to get one of them...I got the boots, but the blacksmith dude still won't "believe" me and I can't get a lockpick.

The thing about the screens Hurl posted is that I've started to dislike all the super-shiny effects. It looks sterile and cold or something - the lighting of it doesn't look real to me at all in most cases. Like the difference between glossy and matte photographs....I tend to prefer matte. And to my eyes, the only difference in chr. model between the 1st and the 2nd is haircut and armor (chunky ribbed grey armor vs. delicate more revealing clothing). Both female's body/outline and pose/posture outline, for example, pretty much look the same, except one has a bigger chest and paler skin.

All I've bought are Sneak back in the tutorial, some striped pants, a bandana, a pickaxe, and a cheap ring. Tried to drink some big dude under the table but failed because I couldn't hold onto a bottle or something, so I lost 50g and now he wants 500g to try it again. I sell most of the flowers I pick (are they useful later or something?) and all of that, but even w/exploring around, killing all the crabs and looting 10g chests .... I'm so poor. The pirates by the river having an F word argument was funny. I'm at the lighthouse now.

Ah....makes me think of my dream of one day having an entire large room devoted as a library, with lots o shelves and a small lounge chair. Right now most of mine are in boxes in a closet.

I like the notion of it not being one big land mass, like most games. That gets old too, so even if it does limit exploration a bit it's still maybe a change of pace, as long as each island doesn't feel like a complete duplicate of the others. The one thing I read in a review that disappointed me was that the sailing is never you on the ship - essentially just loading screens. Not very pirate-like. Feeling better for the moment, might dive in a bit again.

I found GW1 generic even when it was new, but I still found it fun. Generic doesn't always = boring, if one likes the gameplay and all of that stuff. I don't know about the anime either. Outside of that one screenie up there, I don't think it looks like anime at all. Whether GW2 is a fun/good ARPG/MMO game I reserve judgement on since I haven't played it.