LadyCrimson

I'm intrigued. Someone here told me I should get some of these games once...I haven't yet. As soon as I'm up for longer periods of pc use, I'm gettin' em. Sounds like I could have a lot of fun goofing off, with all those elements available...even if it meant not winning a mission. heheh

Weather affects the battle? As in, it rains, the game accounts for muddy ground for movement or something like that? That sounds pretty cool...

I think many of us share that sentiment...unfortunately there's still no official word that one will even be made. There was an article interview bit someone posted a bit back, about how "they" aren't planning to ignore the franchise, but that doesn't neccesarily translate into "we're making a game any time soon."

Thanks, that's nice to hear. I know such games will always be largely about numbers in general, I just like to know there's other options...or that tactics on the battlefield really matter, vs. just unit vs unit, and "charrrrrge." Alexander the Great type tactics, for example...which it sounds like it's possible to emulate a bit. Good nuff. Yeah, the sneaky part I didn't expect too much from TW...I just love it when you can take a quirk in the game and use it to eventually beat the enemy without even raising a fist, so to speak - just wish it wasn't always because of a 'quirk.'

Because of Win-Dixie. I must have been in a mushy mood because I actually sort of liked it. :"> Although, whenever they give animals CGI smiling capabilities, it's always a bit creepy. At least the film kept it to a minimum.

I was pretty disappointed that Sci-Fi wasn't in HD. There's some channels that broadcast BG in HD later, but it's more like a HD conversion and is a lot more grainy than 1st run HD stuff. And any old series/films converted to HD always look more icky than newer stuff. That's just age/film limitations, mostly.

It'd help if I knew better by what you mean as "better graphics." ie, overall clarity of image quality or more about special effects. I've noticed w/HD and big screen TV that while live-people shows in HD are pretty amazing, animated films still beat them in terms of looking really sharp or...something. There's something about animation that gives a hyper-reality to lines and the overall sense of "quality" and vividness vs. real-life video/film. Thus, since most games are graphically animated, I'd postulate that this effect is one reason they can give the impression that TV shows look more dowdy by comparison. Watching Rome and 24 etc. in HD on 50" seems quite fair to my eyes, tho...I can see every wrinkle and every pore and every badly done make-up line. In terms of clarity, at least, it's actually more so than you'd notice w/your own eyes in real life. I think soon they'll have to figure out new ways to put make up on actors....

Ah, ok, I get what you mean. Oddly, Stronghold is a game where I liked the AI - not because it was smart but because I like to build up and smash their castles. SH's AI was all about defense, imo - AI armies they'd send were all small and stupid, w/occasional larger waves after hours of play. heh I haven't played TotalWar - I'm curious if they've improved the problem common in older RTS games where it's mostly about greatest numbers. Are they better about giving players other ways to defeat the AI opponents besides just amassing huge armies/special units and razing the enemy with them. Either through sneaking actions or politics, perhaps. And by sneaking, I don't mean AOE-like "here's four units, get them safely to the other side of the map" levels.

Is he healthy enough to do one? I haven't seen him in anything in a long time...not that I've been on the lookout much or anything.

At first I thought the first post said a "deranged parrot/. This probably doesn't quite fit in this topic, but I've always disliked the cute-child-in-peril-to-gain-audience-sympathy. This is either because they're often done very badly - no better than the dog-in-peril-moments, say - or because I'm just heartless.

Beyond making sure wires aren't going to be chewed up by fans or melted by resting against something hot - neither of which is ever a major risk imo, I pay no attention to it. I don't think I have enough wires in my pc to worry about, in the first place. I'm always much more annoyed by trying to keep wires on the outside/around the desk etc. out of the way - not only from the pc but the scanner, printer, cameras, etc. Airflow hasn't been an issue in my main computer.

Descent. I was expecting something more like the suspense/horror of Aliens, and instead got more of a Night of the Living Dead horror. Bleh.

I found the 1st episode of the 2nd season to be kind of bland - too much set-up/reminders of the previous season maybe - the 2nd episode was much better. I have the feeling by the end of the season it'll be rip-roaring. For me the show isn't about whether it's really historically accurate (it's a tv show...) or predictable - it's about the characterization/drama. It reminds me of a play in some ways. I like Octavian's growth of character a lot and I loved the guy who played Caesar.

I looked briefly into the HD-DVD units when TV shopping, but didn't realize the discs were more fragile in that manner. Makes me glad I didn't get one. That and the tech still feels too new...I'll wait and see where it goes.

Hey now, I didn't say "no exercise" - I said not much. But the back trouble actually started when I slipped in the bathtub several years ago - twice, on two seperate occasions close together - and butt-slid backwards into the tub faucet, hitting almost the exact same spot on my upper spine both times. It was freaky and painful but I thought nothing of it until a week later when I was flat on my back. heh Since then it's been downhill from there. But yes, I'm sure lack of torso muscles makes it much more likely for it to "go out" on me etc. - one of those idiotic cycles of "my back hurts/don't exercise" and "back doesn't hurt/exercise...oops the back went out again" things. Even when I was supposedly very fit, I've always been about aerobic/legs, not arms and torso.

I'm not sure what is meant by "game lock combos" but there have been games with different AI types - of course, they still weren't dynamic in response to player-actions, they'd just use different "plans", and thus were predictable before long. Dynamic reactions to human actions would be nice, yes...assuming, of course, that the programming made it feel random enough in some way. If it only had one reaction to any action - where I knew if I didn't want it to build a certain unit I just had to avoid doing a certain thing to cause the AI reaction - that would be just as predictable, I think.

I've never played competitive sports, except the mandatory bits in school and such...just not into that sort of competition at all. Sometimes fun to watch, but otherwise... Biking, hiking/packing, & dancing were my things in teens/20's. Ballroom dancing in particular I really enjoyed it, and did a few local shows - nothing major, just for fun. My 30's tho...not a whole lot, honestly, besides sex and short walk/hikes in nearby parks and the exercycle...and lately, a lot of upper-torso strength/flexibilty exercises. Yoga is probably in my future.

I've dreamed of a good RTS AI opponent that didn't rely on computer decision speed vs. human decision speed. I have yet to experience one. I can understand money/time being a large issue, but over the years it's pretty disappointing that it hasn't become much better, even so. There have been plenty of strategy games that were crazily difficult to beat/weren't easy, where myself and perhaps others would want them toned down for being too unfair - but that doesn't neccesarily make them good AI. Typically the AI opponents I've liked best were very defensive rather than offensive, simply because it's less of a speed-game.

I remember mine changing to Kreia a few times - I never knew exactly why, but I think at least one aspect has something to do with whether you're dark or light when you win the game, or at certain major points, or something.

Almost everyone but Jack is a redshirt, really. " And maybe Chloe. I watched the first 5 episodes of season6. I'm undecided about whether I'll wait for the DVD for this season...I usually do, but I admit it's been pretty nice to watch them in 1080HD. Upconverted 480-1080 isn't anywhere near the same. Commericals are always irritating tho, even w/fast-forward.

How would imperfections in a disc cause it to lose data later? I can see it making it cagey to actually write the data, but lose it? Or are you saying such imperfections make them just unreadable? If the latter, I guess I can see that...would those disc resurfacing thingies be something to try, if you have nothing else to lose anyway? I've never had any cd/dvd's become unreadable yet - burned or originals. My husband acts like they're coasters, but he hasn't had any lost data yet either. Guess we're just lucky so far.

Due to horrible bad-back issues I've watched a lot of TV lately - especially since we got a nice shiney 50" plasma and digital/HD cable. Recently, "Duel" was on and I watched that. Haven't seen it in a while - it ages pretty well; it's still a classic for it's simplicity...or something. I'm annoyed they felt they had to re-make "The Hitcher" - if they ever remake "Duel" I'll have a stroke.

I'm getting a little tired of them killing off characters left and right all the time. While it's refreshing that they aren't afraid to do it, a little of that goes a long way.

I think the first time, upon reload (ahem) I used a lot of shields and constant pausing of the game - vibroblades and no running behind the counter. Like the others said, if he's not Jedified at this point (especially if you were trying to keep him low level to Jedify him later), definitely pretty hard when you're unprepared/don't know what to expect. It can also be hard to Jedify him before triggering this encounter with no previous knowledge of the game, so I'm not sure that's the best advice. But if you have the oppurtunity, definitely take it. :D

Sorry for not giving an accurate answer. From the way you framed your original post, I thought you meant you had it working and didn't understand what the power did game-wise.