LadyCrimson

Black Widow Finesse/Better Criticals Silent Running Intensive Training ...altho tbh I pretty much don't care about 95% of the Perks in NV. I pick some because I have to pick something but they don't really add to my playstyle much. IT helps me the most so I can have high CHA and still have 7 STR & 5-6 in most other SPECIAL.

Enlighten me on what's "wrong" with Chad, please? I have no clue, it's always seemed a perfectly pleasant name. Sunshine tho...definitely "hippy." hehe Someone somewhere is naming their child Twitter as we speak, I bet. ....and I'm playing - some music. Gaming is for later.

Irish Washerwoman - yea I'm in that Celtic mood again.

If lasting fanbase translates to "a handful of nerds on a messageboard", then DS certainly has one. I prefer the term "geek" instead.

Ditto. I've used Empowered healing to save my companions arse during boss-fights at times, since that also benefits me so why not, but it's pretty rare I use Empowered for any other reason. They could use some boosting or something.

Points have nothing to do with empowering an ability. (edit) Also, the bar Tig is talking about isn't the passive proficiency skill points screen. It's the very first one, with all the circles. If you highlight/click on one of those ability circles, you can see a 'bar' under the ability name. (edit: illustrating screenshots: One - Two You just have to use the ability. It's a little bit like how the skills worked in the old DS games. Every time you use/cast an ability, you gain a tiny bit of progress in the "Mastery bar" meter. When that meter/bar fills up, you have Mastered the ability and can now use the Empowered version of it (if you want, don't have to) by pressing the Shift+ability hotkey (eg Shift+1 .. on kb, not sure on consoles). So if you want, say, Empowered Wind Shear, start casting Wind Shear. A lot. Empowered takes up 2 Power spheres tho (the little purple orbs under your health meters). I personally haven't needed them much, even in HC.

Bah humbug...oh wait, wrong holiday. 4th of July is ok...the city fireworks are always fun & we're really close to them. Can get an ice cream and walk to a parking lot and watch 'em. The over-enthusiastic neighbors popping their loud bang firecrackers until 2am is not fun, however. ...get off my lawn.

I was coming in to post that I realized there are more that respawn right at the beginning, too, just past that first walkway w/the flame spout lines (near the 2nd save point after you talk to the foreman guy who gives u the quest/instructions). The ones up the stairs in the small room w/the cyclops & another one under the walkway. I'm beginning to think all the chests that are not the bigger, more deco-banded-gold glow-y chests will respawn in the foundry. Which makes me wonder if it is a boo-boo. Maybe it was intentional.

U MAD? Guess that's a yes.... (ps, didn't die )

I'm on PC. There was a thread on the topic during the demo release but I can't find it now (probably need new glasses...) There were better pics of the issue in the thread (it wasn't just me) but this was the only one I put up: http://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/med...DS3-0000013.jpg It's a bit like the colors you see on top of an oil slick, in straight lines. Upper left corner where the fence is. Sometimes you can't see it in-game because of colors/backgrounds but other times it's fairly obvious (like a lot of the dialogue screens if you can see 'sky' behind NPC's) and causes the image to look like it's under a dirty lens or something. Edit: Found the thread: http://forums.obsidian.net/index.php?s=&am...t&p=1122170 And it is probably intentional effect, but something is wrong with the effect that causes banding. It's possible one may not initially notice but once you notice it it's hard to stop noticing it.

I keep watching the Diablo3 gameplay & Arena vids. The action looks great, I just hope the skills/game mechanics match.

I have idly wasted every minute of the past 38 hours or so and have loved every minute of it. Caffeine helped.

Ozzy's 'Crazy Train' on the bagpipes:

I need to move to the UK. And I'm definitely hoping for DLC for DS3.

Yeah, I wish they'd put in high res slides and downsize them for smaller screens instead of the other way around. :/

I played DS1 & DS2 and I still like DS3. But I realized it was going to be different from the beginning...so I went trying not to have expectations. I find expectations tend to be a bit like having blinders on. Even w/Diablo3 I'm trying hard not to have expectations, because the direction Blizzard has been going in lately has me thinking D3 is going to be a bit different than a lot of ppl are thinking...not as dramatic as DS3, but we'll see.

I'm not an expert on judging a game engine from playing a game, but I certainly liked what I saw. Also, tho I only have this one game to judge it by, it seems stable. Still the issue of the way one of the lighting/fog or some effect causes those weird soft lines in the background at times but other than that...

Not a bad point. Some of those same ppl I know couldn't give a flying hoot about new graphics/physics. I guess I was wondering (in terms of sales at least) if the fact most aRPG's were, in the past, aimed at the PC market had something to do with it. They don't seem to port over well to consoles (at least not to the original aRPG fans minds) while shooters went there easily. That was my impression from the get-go as well.

Blizzard and most MMO's would like to disagree with you. DS3 just isn't the "popular" form of aRPG's as most think of them, since Ob's went for something a bit different. But I do agree that there doesn't seem to be tons of room for a plethora of Diablo's, say, vs. a plethora of 1st person shooters. I often wonder why that is... 1st person shooters - you run around shooting at stuff. aRPG's - you toss fireballs/whack your sword at stuff. eg, what makes shooter fans keep buying all these new shooters, while aRPG fans just say "I'll wait for D3 to come out", when the formula for either doesn't change that much (I know they change a little/try for new things at times, I'm just saying....). I know so many who won't even try a new aRPG because something in the game isn't like Diablo & it irks them.

It's nothing special, just helps the pocketbook a little mostly. One of the chests in the Foundry, closer to the start then the end. On the other hand, while mucking about with that, a random monster in one of the small 'mobs' I killed to get there dropped the Unique Halo One Eye or something, during one run. Surprised me because the enemy wasn't a boss, mini-boss or anything of that sort.

Hm. Now I'll have to pay more attention to that. Must admit I haven't been very observant with dmg stuff this game. Hasn't been my focus. I can't recall ever seeing any poison effect either, tho...at least nothing on the scope of glowing green gas aura or some such. But then I haven't noticed anything from Lightning either, outside of the graphic effect on the weapon/fist. There's usually too much chaos going on for me to gauge what dmg is causing what during a fight or even hear specific sounds. Only one I notice is Fire, because well, they're on fire.

I've watched my older brother with my niece over the years (who, while able to be independent, is somewhat learning disabled in an unusual fashion, it's complicated) and I came to the conclusion he's one of the best dads there could possibly be. My brother is just....awesome.

In my case, at least, it's probably the later. Just never wanted kids. Can't remember a moment in my entire life where I did. Ppl would tell me I'd change my mind when I grew up, but never happened. The desire to procreate is missing from my genetic makeup or something. The caretaker-mothering instinct is still there a bit tho, else I probably wouldn't go gaga over kittens.

Re-reading Howl's Moving Castle. Which made me watch the movie again too. I love Howl.