LadyCrimson

I don't remember them in DS2 or its expansion, either. *Google searches* ....ohhhhhhh those, ok, I remember now. I guess I forgot because they took up party member slots & I didn't think of them as pets...ie, they weren't entirely decorative. They were just an alternative to magical summons or human NPC's.

Yeah, and these days some of those aren't bad either, for walkabout/vacation cameras. They certainly make fine small/medium prints or web postings. Problem (to me) is, the glass in those compact cameras aren't what I like. Pics will look fine around 50% but even at 100-ISO there's usually a lot of noticeable grain/pixelation at 100%. Which is my complaint about the zoom I bought. It's better than in compacts of course, & for a non-prime lens it's good I suppose, but I guess my eyes want the $4k-8k glass. Oh well. One day I'll be rich. (dialup warning) This is a (boring) full-size quick test pic from the zoom at 100/mm 100-ISO. (u may have to click on pic in browser to expand to full size, depending on your browser). The grain quality at 100% is actually ok, but many other test shots it wasn't. The more zoomed out you are, the 'softer' the corners/edges became, giving it a bit of that circle-of-vaseline look even when actual pixelation was minor. This is a full size from my macro 100mm prime lens, at 800-ISO. While there's some definite grain, I think it's still pretty good for that ISO & my now-ancient 20D.

I must be confused again. I don't remember pets in Dungeon Siege. But I did think they were cute and annoying at the same time, in WoW.

I'll add: SHARED STASH....ie, easy to transfer items from one chr. to another. Eh? You mean summons? I love summons. I love love love summons. Tho oddly enough, in the end, I wasn't that fond of the Necro in Diablo2. At least, not the skeleton Necro's. That was too many summons...visually got in my way. heh

I bought a cheap "super-zoom" lens today...with cheap ($630) being relative, considering the prices for the very high quality lenses. Was going to get one of either 2 Canon lenses but store guy convinced me to try the Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC. I'm not sure if I like it yet. I guess I can get used to it...definitely a decent "casual walk around" or "vacation" lens & it does have some image stabilization but meh, it has lots of issues, too. But it is a (big) zoom, which is never going to be as good as a prime. My Canon 100mm/macro beats this new lens, image quality wise, to hell & back. But when they say it has super zoom, they aren't kidding. Especially when mounted on a non-full frame DSLR. The pic on right is the middle fence post from pic on the left, standing in same spot.

By Jove, I think you've got it!! ...I did consider maybe he was using the stool for step exercising, but then why would he put it on the tablesaw instead of leaving it on the ground. Oh well, he'll be home soon, I can ask then....but maybe...I don't really want to know.

Yeah, I do understand it, hence the 'way it goes.' Books, movies....sequel-itis is one reason I stopped reading very many novels or caring about a lot of movies. I guess I was just foolishly hoping that the vid. game industry would avoid it being quite so dominant for a bit longer. There have been some game sequels that I've liked almost as much as the original, & certainly games where I want a sequel (Diablo, haha) so again, not always a bad thing. It's just disheartening when it starts to feel that's all there is anymore. Title name recognition=more sales, among other things.

Oh...for some reason I thought Steam MP & DVD-copy MP used different MP ports (?) servers(?) systems or something. I guess they both use Gamespy then? I'd need to make an GS account & reinstall the game...next time you're in the mood, maybe we could try. No idea how well GS works, never tried it. P.S. ... also, we have all kinds of hardware firewalls, do you really need to forward ports?

Please note I'm not E3/game news expert....but does it feel to anyone else that the (big name) video game industry has a serious case of sequel-itis? Not that that's inherently a bad thing, or something....but I do find it amusing. The way it goes...

At least it's something. Very nice....uh...magical tree roots! I await the video/s, whenever they may arrive, with eager anticipation.

The Dungeon hath added a new, mighty Keeper. Don't forget to train your Dark Mistresses. They can make a mean whipped cappuccino.

Whilst making an afternoon snack, I looked out the kitchen window and noticed the plastic stepstool was sitting on top of the covered tablesaw, on the patio. Which makes me wonder wtf my husband was doing this morning before work, while I was still snoozin'. Try as I might, I can't come up with anything.

It's not weather, but I recall in Diablo1 liking to use those -light radius equipment so monsters couldn't see me as quickly. That was very fun & it was disappointing when Diablo2 didn't include it in the same fashion. I definitely like LOS/visibility tweaks in games, whether from weather or other sources. Those ideas all sound marvelous. It's exactly the sort of stuff that would drive my meticulous, tinkering style into heaven.

*laughs* That was terrible. The most annoying aspect of stuff like that, for me personally, is I can read the 'wall of text' 5x faster than it scrolls/is being spoken. Thank goodness most games let you press ESC these days.

Shutter Island. ...I figured it out in the first 20 minutes, so no suspense for me there. Some nice visuals and acting I guess, but kinda boring. I still have a hard time with DiCaprio..he can be a great actor in some ways/certain roles, but for me he's not consistent...yet.

I'm terrible at thinking up suggestions, so I'll just say I kinda like this one. I don't know in what way it would/could affect gameplay, tho...lightning storms that make lightning spells more powerful? Can only use certain spells during dark hours? Hmm. I also just like weather in games. More than rapidly cycling light/dark periods too...like some rain.

Well, I suppose as far as maxing stat potentials are concerned, it is, yes. But I tend to think of power-gaming as being a whole concept that includes more than only min-maxing starting stats. If a person min-maxes starting stats in a vid-game but otherwise plays through a game more 'naturally' I don't find that terribly power-gamer. To me power gaming is more about when one is almost solely concerned only with game activities that make you the "best" in all areas, as fast as possible, such as reloading endlessly to try to acquire the known "best gear" or "best" outcome possible rather than taking/accepting what you get/1st chose, or being "rushed" by friends to level up fast/get to the end game in order to be able to hunt for said gear. I met players in Diablo2 who didn't even know who the end-boss in Act1 was cause they were AFK while their friend was killing. Then of course there's the meticulous, obsessive gamer who in some ways resembles power-gamers because of their obsession with experimenting/tinkering, but will often strongly deny it since they're not concerned with speed of progression or being best per se, but the challenge of beating the odds of collecting all armor sets or something. (me).

What do you mean by min-max it? Do you mean people purposely power-gaming or under-power gaming? Or something else? For example giving the fighter low mental stats and high physical stats, then make a bard or paladin to be the talker of the party. Oh ok, I understand now. Not quite power-gaming perhaps, but imo not too far off, really.

What do you mean by min-max it? Do you mean people purposely power-gaming or under-power gaming? Or something else?

Part of inventory clogging, at least in early-mid stages of most phat-loot games, is the desire to accrue lots of gold, so one is constantly stuffing inventory full of things you don't care about, but just want to sell...and thus you feel like you're constantly running back to town & want ever more backpack space. Later when you care less about "gold" you hardly pick up anything. I liked Divine Divinity's limited merchant gold+barter system. It decreased my 'pick up for loot' issues a lot in that regard. Also, count me in the camp of being at least somewhat annoyed in games like BG with the stacks of arrows/slingshot stones not having a high number. When you had a full party and liked to fight ranged with them all, I'd have two chrs. holding nothing but ammo. That said, I don't mind ammo-carrying limitations being in place, but imo it shouldn't be a serious disadvantage compared to non-ammo classes in my getting thru a dungeon/area.

I knew of a lot of people that ended up playing the solo game without any party members anyway. IIRC you didn't have to 'hire' them, tho there might've been a quest or two where you needed one, don't remember. I myself went through with nothing but mules as a party, one time. That was really funny...except when I had to make them go one at a time across a bridge cause of bad pathfinding. heheh I dunno....I didn't mind the npc party in DS, precisely because you didn't have to use them. But I think I'd at least like the option to have a couple tag along, if I wanted, and sounds like Square Enix may be doing that. Six total in party might be a bit much, tho....it was certainly awkward at times in DS1. Slightly better in DS2, in terms of pathfinding/fighting & switching them in & out type management, but still...

@Hurlshot - Hope he got to go home with you today!

Wha?! To put it succinctly, this sucks. Condolences to his family/friends. He'll be missed here. RIP

1-apparently I can no longer see the word "Lima" without thinking of Glee. 2-Yes, I'm glad I'm not Joran. Or anyone else headed for, or already in, prison for more than unpaid traffic tickets. I'm a little nuts, but at least I'm not that kind of nuts.