Maria Caliban

1) I tend to make a number of spelling mistakes and this time I didn't run my post through Word. 2) I pronounce the word 'Pro-toe-call'. I've also heard 'Pro-tah-call.' I don't memorize or visualize words completely, so I tend to fill in spaces with what I hear.

I installed Alpha Protocal and Borderlands, but haven't touched either. I also have the Shadow Broker DLC and ME 2 installed on my game, but can't muster the energy to play. I think I have a head cold or something. And for some reason, I want to play that one game. The one where you're a mercenary in Africa and run around finding diamonds everywhere, which you use to buy your malaria pills. I remember it has nice guns and horrible respawning roadblocks. But I think I have most of my older games packed up in the closet. Getting to the game would require digging through stuff and I'd rather nap.

I didn't even known Kid Rock and Pamala Anderson were married. A few people here have suggested that All Points Bulletin was a bad game. Can I ask why?

Apparently, the board hates ****roaches as much as I do.

I would like an RPG based on Exalted: Alchemicals. [image] For those who are unfamiliar: Autochthon is a Primordial. Everyone lives within his lightless, mechanical body. Humans, ****roaches, and rats are the only organic creatures, but there is a multitude of mechanical spirits. Nutrients are gathered by tapping directly into Autochthon's massive veins. The Alchemicals are metal autonoma with the souls of heroic humans inserted within them. As they age, they grow larger and the oldest are massive cities. Autochthon created them to serve humanity. There are eight such cities and humanity lives within them. They have a very cold war soviet/Orwellian feel to them, but they're not distopias. The Populot (common worker) toils in massive industrial complexes because the environment demands that sort of society. Autochthon is ill. He's placed himself in stasis but is dying of a cancerous condition humans call the Void. It destroys the raw material of his body, has caused many of his machine spirits to become dangerous 'gremlins,' and spreads insanity among his chosen (the Alchemicals). I like the setting because it's a great mesh of the industrial aesthetic (cities teaming with workers, communist economic systems, massive factories, a harsh and bleak environment, cybernetics) and fantasy tropes (the world is the inside of a god, there are definite heroes, an insidious evil threatens to ruin civilization, there are many supernatural sprits and elementals). Exalted is already a RPG, and the mechanic would fit a game. There are six castes of Alchemicals with different strengths. They have slots where they place artifacts that give them different powers. You could have a mission-based structure where at the beginning of the missions you picked 5-7 artifacts to install from a larger list of them. A few of the artifacts are permanent upgrades to your body or mind. After the mission, you could return to the vat complex and use XP to upgrade yourself, or buy more slots, or different artifacts. It's also a nice way to cover some of the more ridiculous concepts in RPGs. Why can I survive a hit by a massive dragon when a few months ago a rat bite could kill me? In Alchemicals, it's because you 'bought' a strain-resistant chassis modification and alloyed reinforcement of flesh.

I have Alpha Protocal installed, but haven't played a moment of it. I'm also installing Mass Effect 2 now for the blue alien sex Liara DLC coming out tomorrow.

No idea. I managed to deflect with kittens. Other people obviously don't like kittens.

What do you mean? I disliked the skill allocation and that magic pwned all, but the combat was solid in Origins. Hated combat in Awakening. Glad to hear Leliena's Song was good. I haven't touched any of the ME 2 DLC so far except for the initial release stuff. What have you thought of it so far? These are both reason to cheer.

You are a strapping, young buck, you are.

I plan on picking up Liliana's Song, Witch Hunt, and Shadow Broker when they come out on the 7th. I'm not sure if I should do the ME2 or DA:O DLC first and neither of them are loaded on my computer right now. Yeah, I know you guys liked DA:O's combat, but I'm perfectly happy to have it be more 'actiony' in DA 2.

I am unsure as to how old 'that young' is.

Here's a let's play That man's voice is.. painful.

I'm serious. The first sentence is an observation - previous to Fallout 3, this board was very, very elitist. It's not as much now, and I'm merely speculating that people enjoying Fallout 3, DA:O, and ME2 might be part of the reason. The current conversation about DA 2 is far nicer than what we used to have about DA:O before it released. We're largely positive about Fallout NV and Witcher 2. To be sure, I still imagine this place as a dusky pub where middle aged men come to grouse about everything over mugs of beer (only the men are young and grousing about games).

Clue a newbie into what Penumbra is?

I like kittens. Kittens > NWN, KotOR, BG. FACT.

I've noticed that since Fallout 3, Mass Effect 2, and Dragon Age: Origins came out, we've lost a chunk of our previous elitism. It seems as though every board member (grugingly) liked one or more of those games.

Well, aren't we condescending... Maybe try the codex? I didn't find him all that condescending. Actually, he reminds me of that one enthusiastic and non-jaded fellow the board managed to run off because he.. what was it? Did he suggest that we all make a our own fallout 3? Fix all that was wrong with KotOR II? Make our own RPG?

Wut? Why would reinstalling game + DLC + patched take 6 hours?

You sir, have been ETed.

So true. Though ME1 had blue alien girly sex.

No, DA:O was ugly. Jade Empire and Mass Effect 2 were the best looking BioWare games. BG + BG II had some great looking backgrounds, though I don't think as many as some suggest. Then again, something might be ugly and good-looking. Could the Witcher qualify? I wonder if something can be both beautiful and bad-looking, or at least pretty and bad-looking.

Do you mean Paragon?

The immigration debate is very old in America. Illegal Chinese workers made our railroads. For a long time, there was gnashing and wailing of teeth about how Eastern European immigrants were pouring into the country and diluting the American culture with their funny languages and strange customs. Give it another 80 years, and Mexican immigrants will be considered fine, but there will be laws about letting too many of those dirty Canadians into the country. People trust metal. Silver would do just as good, as would platinum, or even steel. It

People also claim that Obama is an Arab. I can understand being unhappy with his policies, but it's possible to critisize them without making Obama out to be something he's not. I tend to disagree. Augustus might have conquered territories and held the Senate in his fist, but he also strengthened Rome's infrastructure through improving its road system and tax structure, supported culture and the arts, continued to make nations tributaries instead of outright conquering them so the Empire wasn't overextended, and made peace with the Persian empire. Alternatively, how as the war in Iraq benefited America? Caesars were pragmatic creatures and if one sent an army out, it was to gather land, slaves, goods, etc. I