LadyCrimson

I haven't done lots of exploring to gaze at stuff, but some of them that I've noticed are definitely better. They're not the super-watercolor-blob-blurs of before. Things like tree trunks, some walls & snow textures, and clothing are where I noticed it most at casual glance. Maybe some of the roads too. Again, it's not that it looks uber awesome/sharp close up or humongous change or anything, but it just gives a much better impression as you're moving around the world. Like the 2nd pic of the tree, on this page: http://www.neoseeker...hot-comparison/ IGN has a comparison page too...the last pic shows a table scenario. http://pc.ign.com/ar.../1218176p1.html It feels/seems like they also increased the bloom (or glare) of some lighting, which I wasn't appreciating. It's not too bad tho.

Discovering that lately I enjoy being not-plugged in, so to speak, a lot more than I enjoy being plugged in. Most days I don't even turn the PC on....

That's good to hear. Keep us updated on any thoughts re: the game post-demo area.

Beth's HD-pack - I like it. Nothing super special "wowzers" but gives an overall impression of less blurry. And no weird bumpy texture effects like some of the FNV mods had. I don't get any noticeable fps hit either. Skyrim's CK - haven't played with it much but the known errors upon loading doesn't give me warm fuzzies, even if they're "safely" ignorable. Reading comments/threads on the Beth fora, seems like mixed feelings re: it's abilities/differences in scripting & other such stuff. Neither have inspired me to want to dive into playing the game again, tho. Not yet anyway. I may try making a personal house, however.

I guess I was hoping it would be something in between Two Worlds & Elder Scrolls, or something. (I've never played Fable). Ah well, lower price & patches I guess, before I try.

@TrueNeutral - sorry if my hurriedly written internet post triggered a pet peeve. I didn't mean CGi is less work work - time or energy or any of that. I'm a millions miles from a special effects person, but I know even fiddling with digital photography effects can take "forever," haha. It's more that I personally find the aesthetics & physical dimension of making the models by hand/stop motion or other practical methods(especially in live-action films) etc. to be a lot more interesting and to a degree, often a lot better looking. If done well of course...you can have a lot of crap practical effects too.... I dunno, it has a better "energy" to me. So *I* get cranky when I see the same CGI-looking stuff over and over and over and over that (as an "ignornant viewer"), often looks cut & pasted from another movie, no matter how many tons of time/work were actually put into them. CGI, especially for "monsters & creatures" often looks (imo) colorful, but flat & sterile compared to some practical effects, even when the practical effects are outdated & look a bit cheesy now (as in the 1982 The Thing, from a 2012 perspective). Something about having real 3 dimensions for the camera to photograph, maybe, versus CGI created 3 dimension. I kinda liked it when movies seemed to be (more often) using more of a mix of practical & CGI effects as the CGI tech was developing, and I dislike the (seeming) trend towards being almost all CGI...simply because I don't think it looks that great yet. There's always exceptions of course (Gollum impressed me) but overall...film CGI is meh. Unrelated: I re-watched Carpenter's The Thing, and it did make me appreciate the recent prequel's attempts at certain bits of continuity & the overall recreation of the "look & feel" of the older film. Outfits, color, setting/mood, color tone, etc.

Car smog/registration. I can't believe my car is 14 years old. Still low, low mileage, still runs great. But it's unlikely I'll ever buy a brand-new car again.

Still no editor? At this point I'm not sure I'd go back to it even when the kit is released. I haven't played it in two months or whatever. But when/if some people start putting out good mods (more than just clothing and weapon deco & other such simple things....don't care about textures either)....may give it a shot again then. Steam integration....meh. Don't like it, but since you need Steam to play it on pc anyway, I can live with it. I'm pretty sure you only have to use it if the mod-maker only has it uploaded to Steam & nowhere else....I think. haven't read up on it in a while.

So, my understanding: the demo sucks. Has anyone tried the whole game? I've had games where I disliked the demo but then months later (when the game is cheap) I'd try it anyway and the full game is a lot better. Not that I'll likely get it at full price regardless. But it was one that looked semi-promising, until I read this thread.

Yeah, I think it's just my no-perm. cookies settings. So 1st time I open browser/try to login, it doesn't toss it up, but the 2nd time I load the page, it does. No biggie. Think I had this has a trusted/exception cookie site before, I'll do that again.

When I hit the small "SignIn" key/lock icon at the top of the page, the forum does a little blip up there like it wants to do something, but doesn't. I had to click the "Sign In" (or Register now!) text link that's among all the "Hello welcome to the forums" intro at the top (when not logged in). I turned off the 'block popup windows' option (Firefox thinking that might be it, but it still didn't work. Don't care about liking posts. I also miss how the old forum could/did fill up my whole browser window, instead of being a column in the middle with empty space columns on the side. (not that this is important...heh) Edit: I logged out and suddenly the login icon at top of page worked, tossing up the extra window to type in your stuff. Strange. Maybe because first time I logged into the new forums? Anyway....I'll see if it still works later. Maybe it's my cookie settings or something, too.

The Thing (prequel) - meh. Not badly done or anything like that, but such a retread it held no suspense for me whatsoever. And no one in the cast with the presence/fun of a Kurt Russell. The cgi creature effects looked better, of course, but somehow the old models are still technically more impressive, because of all the work that goes into those, vs. clicking pixels on a computer.... Moneyball - awesome, just awesome. Drive - action trying to be arty? It was ok I guess. Not as action-oriented as I was expecting. The bit players (Cranston, Brooks) were the best things. And wtf was up with the main chr. wearing that face mask at the end? To what purpose/what for? Just to be visually artsy I think....

Holy forum-look changes, batman. *waves hello* Same ol' same ol...hope all is well with everyone.

The water glass pic - omg Others are fun too. You guys are great at finding the funnies!

Wish I could see the new Sherlock season/episode, but it's not 1st run here, that I know of anyway. Contagion - pretty good. I think it would have worked better/been more "real-world scary" with lesser known actors/actresses, tho.

From across the street, ppl might still believe I'm 30ish. Closer up, more like late 30's. But on day's like today, I probably look 60. ...tired, shoulder-hunching, long day, and it's only half over. Har.

LOL at the D2 doggy pic. Too true.

Relaxing week and feelin' really good. That's about it.

Finally bought/played Claptrap Revolution DLC. I still like the main game the best, but it had some funny moments. The design wasn't too special, and the "evil" claptraps sounded more amusing on paper. The boss fights were rather punishing, for me, since I was using a xbox controller on the TV. Urgh. Found the "cheat-win" spots each time tho so got thru it. I did like that it didn't feature driving in cars at all, but like all the DLC's, while I get my $10 worth out of them (and more), won't be replaying it like I do the main game. I hear Borderlands2 will have new characters...and they're changing it a lot seems like. I hope it's still the light fun the first one ending up being.

My husband really really likes Borderlands. He tries other ones now & again but I guess it's his go-to-game now. Y'know how usually watching someone else play a game puts you to sleep after a few minutes? Don't know what it is, but for some reason I can sit & watch him play BL for hours. It's like playing without having to play. But fits my semi-non-gaming mood, in a strange way. Plus it's fun - at least when it's your spouse & the silly interaction that comes with it, when one is playing/the other watching.

No particular Xmas celebration in this house, but Happy Holidays everyone. Hope it's a good one. I have hubs to myself for 10 days and we're going to be marathon gaming. Ho ho ho!

I wanna hold your paw. What's that?

Cowboys & Aliens - ...meh. Took itself way too seriously most of the time. Some good early moments but then I started to zzzz. The Adjustment Bureau - watchable. Terrance Stamp is still awesome.

No loss.

DX11/tessellation runs fine on my system/nvidia, at least with the few games I have that use it. It's not like there's a lot of them, still, tho seems to be increasing. I don't know what you mean by runs like **** tho. Tessellation may round some edges but it's often not that big a difference while moving, imo (vs. still screenshot). What you end up noticing the most is the heightened texture height/depth mapping. At least, that seems to be how they're using it a lot of the time. Sometimes they use it on a feature that makes it look great, sometimes it just looks silly. When over-used you end up with stone roads that no wagon wheel would be comfy rolling over.