LadyCrimson

While I can sympathize with any potential "neighbor cats turned my yard into a smelly litterbox" sentiments, that woman is obviously disturbed & maybe cause for psych. evaluation. I mean, we don't know what was in her head/her motivation at the time - but, um, yeah. But death threats...for almost anything...solve nothing/is absurd.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure this isn't an actual flaw in the game. Personally, I liked having the choice. Also, every merchant has different wares. It's worth it to check up on all of them every once in a while.. just not every time! Aye, not a game flaw...it's a me-flaw! Somewhere after level 24 I started spending an hour or two shopping for every hour of questing/killing. The system of stacking items doesn't help. I have a low level quiver (don't use a bow) I've been stacking forever that is awesome. Then I realized you could use horses & empty chests for loot stashes & I began trying to collect all the sets that I think are 'cool looking'. I need help! Bring the net, Shoppers Anonymous!

A halfling? That's actually fairly appropriate.

M&M's are RPG's, not strategy like the HoMM's. Or they're brightly colored chocolate candies, if you're a non-gamer.

Finally a heat wave of near 100F, which makes my PC's run at 55C+ during the day. Hubby put in the window AC unit we took from his sister and .... ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Much better. PC's back to 39C & my personal sanity restored. It's not too loud, either. Not good for keeping thieves out, but I'm usually home anyway. Tonight we may watch Netflix movies in here. heheh

Yeah...I loved that aspect to the film. Gorgeous & great for mood. Made me want to be there. I also appreciated the slower, more deliberate pace (not Hollywood-frenetic) & subtlety of some things. I just wish the 2nd half had lived up to the promise of the 1st half.

Well, I don't like forum let's plays, so there. Video let's plays work best with things like shooters/closer viewpoint/action games...where you aren't always stopping for/selling loot or pausing to give commands etc. Not that you can't do them w/other games, just harder to make it entertaining w/out a lot of editing/work. So imo there's still room for forum/screenshot let's plays. I usually like them best when they're written out like an actual story w/pic illustrations, but Tigranes naming the party after forumites is a hoot. If we started getting a lot of them, I'd agree...but one now and then, I don't see a need. As to the original question, I don't have a preference. I'm not familiar with even half those games (I've played M&M 6-9 & a little of Wizardry8) so...seeing one of a game I haven't played would always be interesting to me.

More Two Worlds pic spam! No bigger versions this time, too lazy to do the process... WTF? (they're dead ppl, I didn't kill them) My golem is not above hitting below the belt! Going to get to the top of this hill if it takes me all night! Which it did! (j/k...it was almost dawn in the 1st pic anyway...) WTF? part2 (or:hey ma, look what my sword can do) "I appreciate the help out there, but now you're crowding me. Get out."

Don't you watch the Discovery & Science channel survival shows? Of course you can! Gut 'em mash 'em boil em stick 'em in a stew...

At our previous house (a lot more grassland there) we had a couple large possums coming around. I took care of an old stray cat who 'adopted' our back yard until she died, and I learned possums like cat food too. So I had to feed her/take the dishes away. I'm surprised to see raccoons at this house actually. It's not the kind of city-area you'd think they'd be in. Several miles to the west, yes, where there are a lot more trees/hills, but not right here. I guess they hide in the bits of marshland or in the sewers at daytime.

I saw it some days ago, but guess I didn't mention it here yet? Ghost Writer....it started off very well, with nice mystery & atmosphere, became steadily less interesting, & then finally (imo) a bit absurd. Pierce Brosnan was good in his small role, Ewan was fine, & I liked the drab/dingy weather cinematography. It's not that it was a bad movie by any means. More like...eventually it collapsed under the weight of the artistic mood, perhaps.

Eh...I have a healthy respect for nature but I'm not one to be paranoid/annoyed with it. I'm more afraid of unseen ticks & mosquito as far as disease goes. *shudder* But I certainly don't recommend trying to actually pet raccoons or standing too close. That actually would be foolish. I've fed two (maybe the same one?) twice in 2.5 years, to take pictures (zoom lenses keep me far away). I never encouraged them to show up in the first place - they were coming into our yard since the 1st day we moved in here, I hear them loudly jump the fence every night which initially drove me crazy when I didn't know what it was, heh. I'm used to it now & hardly notice, funny how that works. This is a dog-owner heavy (and some cats) area, & I suspect some of them leave pet food/water out all night so the 'coons keep coming. Also, the 30-40 ft avocado tree that overhangs our yard is one of the attractions, so unless I can get my neighbors to chop it down (which I wouldn't anyway, I like the tree) they're going to keep coming.

So I'm playing Two Worlds today for a bit, like I have every day for a week plus now or something...and I started to wonder. Why are there so many frakkin' merchants? I counted over a dozen in one of the bigger towns alone, spread out over a wide "we're gonna make you run a mile!" area. Probably a 2-3 dozen others I've encountered in other towns/areas so far, too. I can see having more than one per town, what with the stacking items concept/more opportunity to buy stuff for that, but...well...see... ...a person who is compulsively driven to check every merchant for gear every time they go in to sell loot, especially early-middle game, is going to be slowly driven mad by it all. ( <----------- me )

The raccoons are back...this time with 5 little ones. They eat all the broken, fallen avocados in our yard. Don't usually feed raccoons but eh, they showed up near the door at a time I was walking by....I still had old dry cat food & those small guys were too cute. Only way to get pictures. Mama let her kids eat first before she ambled on over herself. I always wonder where they go during the day, in a city like this.

Two Worlds. Also....my guy is getting a big ego, thinking he's all studly, posing for flashy press photos & stuff. (click 4 bigger if ya want) ... (the flash is a summon dissipating, heh)

Yea, that's exactly it. Trying too hard. Plus for me at least, after so many years, just putting a new gloss on their old IP doesn't feel enough anymore, with all the cash and time a company like Acti-Blizz has/takes. There may be new crafting stuff & skill trees but yet...well, I dunno. I'm probably just feeling ambivalent because of the long wait w/lack of much info. That said, that monk video is still awesome and I know that's what I'll try first.

Re: Diablo3 - I'm positive it'll be an addictive, obsessive game, like always. But I'm not getting the feeling that it'll be quite as much a "classic" as the first two, if that makes sense.

heheh. To cast 3 you cast 1 normally first, then cast the 2-summon spell and cast it again.

Ok, I can summon 3 of each dude at once. I'm not sure that's supposed to happen? Regardless, it's ridiculous/funny. They're on duration timers, but since the game pauses as you switch 'spell cards' they still all last a few minutes if you get it right, which is long enough. Normally I'd only cast 4, since it's easier, but this amused me for 20 minutes.. In the second pic, I forgot to move a bit each casting, & they trapped me in their circle. Click images if you want bigger.

I'm not impressed. Not unimpressed, mind you, but not impressed either. This caravan will 'follow' you from town to town and can be upgraded? Seems odd. Also, if you pause the video I notice that one attribute of an item is "increases vendor value"....oh boy? I do like being able to craft more freely via a NPC rather than everyone rushing to that Act quest. Breaking down stuff for parts could be useful, but knowing Blizzard the chance of getting good parts from that will be 1 in 7 trillion. hehe And...is that 20 detached human feet he has in inventory, or just hunks of meat, or something else? I can't quite tell.

Thanks, that's what I thought. And yes, that's a common problematic aspect in terms of balance for wide-appeal....but I personally don't mind much.

Eh? I don't think I've seen that before. Sometimes ppl cut/paste the linked story text & wrap it in quote tags but that's all I've noticed. As to the moon...if it's actually relatively recent geological activity, I can see why it would excite certain circles. But if it's not going to create tidalwaves or change my astrological sign (haha) doesn't mean that much to me.

Hey mkreku, I'm curious about what level you finished Two Worlds with? I know there's technically no level cap but with random wandering/alchemy hunting I'm already level 31 and I haven't even come close to "seeing" even half the map or started on the main quest yet. I mean, I talked to that robed man in the starter area, got his instructions, and have ignored that quest line ever since. I realize that'll make those quests easy when I get back around to them. I prefer exploring at the moment. Done quite a few of available side/faction quests however. You can get around most of the town guards beforehand by hopping fences in certain spots. I'M SO SNEAKY. Altho, once I couldn't get back out again & had to reload, and once I stood on the spiked wooden palisade logs for too long/slipped or something and managed to impale myself, taking damage that almost killed me. heheh

That's with the HDR slider turned almost off, too. It's not the physical dimensions I'm old-fashioned about, it's the file size your browser loads in the thread, which the forum does not actually alter. But yeah...these days I shouldn't be bothered if they're 300+MB. There's a lot of things like that I need mentally to 'get over', unless I want to emulate my grumpy "internet shouldn't be for giant video-streaming/media!" husband heh I'd post more Two Worlds screens but I think you covered all the armor and vista concepts back when.

Took 15-20 seconds to load, it looks pretty, but yeah...on hindsight I see the light fog-swirl but I thought that was just part of the image design, since there's lots of fog around the (non-clickable) game title icon too. Still waiting patiently for there to be more under the "Video" button.