Calax

It's a LOT like star wars... there are cases where the author just sucks (CS Goto for example) and others where you're wondering about the guys vocab (In the space wolf series, they always use bolter PISTOLS...)

You could try the Instrumentalities of the night series by cook (which I know I'm beating a dead horse that's been rezed, killed rezed again and killed but still). Got the dark parts of his other works, but some humorous looks at the churches and political machinations. If you War40k Anything by Sandy Mitchell would be fantastic. Fairly good sense of humor told in the form of an annotated journal (including annotations like describing a clock the main character hates that has a facsimile of him coming out and beheading orks, the number of which depends on the hour).

This. Chinese legends are a GREAT place to go for material if you wanna ditz around with things Hell I'd bet you could make a pretty good RPG out of the Romance of the tree kingdoms that had supernatural elements up the wazoo but it'd be accepted because the legends gloss over a few things. When I played JE I was actually surprised at how limited I felt in the maps and where I could go. The towns were only kinda three areas, and while in other rpgs' thats' fine, most of the time you were running around in the town. It felt cramped and half dead.

INCORRECT! That should be "will there be Crates?"! That said, I'm gonna get lucky and have a early preview of the game next week from our sony rep. As in he'll bring in 1/2 the game and start playing through it in front of an audience.

I have noticed that in two story levels sometimes I'll go up to the second story, and my party will run around on the first floor trying to stay close to me...

The combat was stripped down yes, but honestly, it kinda needed it. The armor/weapon upgrades in ME1 could be kind of arcane, and this forces you to experiment with different weapons. Seriously, on ME1 I would just go through with a sniper rifle and nothing else. amps and tools were just kinda shield doodahs and the armor was mostly for shields and minor resist upgrades (to me). They simplified the combat, but made it more diverse at the same time.

*pats back* Don't worry champ, there's always a next time. With only a .2% chance of dropping, and then you have to win the roll, that "next time" could be a long way off. I think there's 3 total on our server (Azgalor), and only one Ashbringer.

Also, helium 3 if we ever pull ourselves down from the moon

Btw, I like flirting with the Yeoman every time you get a new partner :D.

Apple just has the problem of having a name brand markup on all their products. But they can do it simply because they are kinda cornering the market.

Looks like they're closing in on a solution on how to trigger the reaction without using more energy than is produced. Currently they only really have the lasers they mentioned or then triggering a fission reaction to start a fusion reaction. And even then the fusion reaction eats it's fuel pretty fast.

I wouldn't so much mind the new armor/weapons system if there was visual customization as well as the stat differences. Running around with the same basic armor for the whole game is, well, boring. Same with the guns. I mean I know it's petty but visual distinction is kinda a big thing and having some variety in what you're wearing is nice. Also tying bonuses into the armor is a good idea, but the helm thing was just over the top.

I got an upgrade to my sniper rifle, more ammo but significantly less damage... just didn't feel as powerful as before so I went back to my original version. I've been expiramenting with characters, haven't found one that really works for me. Don't know why.

With the endorsement of the Clinton administration, and Clinton signed it into law. So, if a bill is passed and a president signs it he automatically is a supporter of said bill. Are you saying he's not? Personally I didn't find any evidence of this, did you?

With the endorsement of the Clinton administration, and Clinton signed it into law. So, if a bill is passed and a president signs it he automatically is a supporter of said bill.

*sigh* my infiltrator is on the second round of recruitment, but I have yet to find a new sniper rifle. Pistol and AR yes, but no rifle

Bill gates is an interesting and amazing man.

@Calax, pay attention to this, I'm covering some points you made too. Following the '29 crash the Glass-Stengal act was passed that protected deposit banking from the fluctuations and risks of investment banking. It regulated interest rates and for fifty years and several rececssions prevented the financnial meltdown we are told we just avoided. I find it curious that the Democrats are screaming for banking in regulation when they are the ones who undid Glass-Stengal. In 1980 under Carter the Depository Deregulation Act, and under Clinton the Gramm-Leach-Biely Act effectively repealed Glass-Stengal and ALLOWED the banks to do the very things were are now told caused the crisis. Add to that the Community Reinvestment Act under Carter-Clinton-Bush that REQUIRED banks to write the same high risk mortgages that by and large went into default and there is your mess that Obama stammers about. Now, no matter what your political persuasion is, there is one fact that is beyond debate. The US Government CAUSED this current mess by meddling. Now they tell you they can solve it by meddling. Just gonna say, you're being disingenuous here. Neither Clinton nor Carter were the ones to institute the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. That was instituted by republicans in 1980 and 1999 "The bill that ultimately repealed the Act was introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa) in 1999" Also both McCain and Obama have proposed reenacting Glass Steagal in response to the economic crash. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...4165296326.html http://www.newsweek.com/id/226938 Enjoy your reading.

Well, banks operating with less regulation preventing them from loaning out WAYY more than they could handle, coupled with loaning out money to people who wouldn't be able to afford it with subprime mortgages, then looked on socked when the mortgages defaulted costing the bank money that it didn't have... We bailed them out and get basically nothing in return, and both administrations have been to timid about them due to "confidence" to actually impose some sort of sanction to prevent the same thing from happening again. The hypocrisy shown during the "recovery" was... amazing. We bailed out the banks with no strings attached loans because we needed "confidence" to get the economy running, as if the banks were simply a perpetual motion machine. Then when the auto industry (who have more jobs under their control, but are also horribly mismanaged with "bailout" money) asks to be saved we end up putting all sorts of strings on it so that the American taxpayer can earn money back. I personally would go with "many strings" because if you screw up so badly (and they admitted they screwed up) that you tossed the economy into a tailspin, you shouldn't be let off the hook because you need confidence. THe bonuses are similar in that the economy is failing, but multi million dollar bonuses are being paid out because somebody managed to hit a marker while causing this. The bank heads were called before congress twice and gave a sum total of "dude, I'm sorry... can I go?" as their response to questions. No offers to help their customers, no offer to help the people who saved their asses, nothing. And even AFTER they got the money to save them so that they'd start lending to help out the guys who'd lost their houses because their jobs died due to the economy, they didn't let out any money except to people who's credit score was almost perfect. Honestly, I'm willing to bet that if the current handling of the banks continues, 10 years from now we'll be in the same situation, just different faces. The banks have had almost 0 overall sanctions placed against them because of this fiasco, and instead just got effectively a free loan from the government. As to Obama and the congress, they'll need to actually do some work otherwise a LOT of seats may change hands (and not just democratic seats, republican ones too) because the population is sick and tired of just seeing them sit on their hands. Well sit on their hands and spend money on things that studies have show to be totally ineffective (see: Abstinence only education).

GD, I think his potshot at the banks was more about the fact that they're tossing out bonus money again, but haven't lessened the restrictions on loaning out money, AND they're using money that the tax payers gave them to make those bonuses. Honestly the banks just seem to have said "money!? What money!?" while wiping the green paper off their collar. It's hard to play the victim when you caused the mess that you're in and you're still perpetuating the same business practices as previous. As to the 114th congress, it feels more like the democratic side just hasn't gotten it's stuff together to act as a unified force. That may change in the coming months as they've just been yelled at by their party leader to get off their collective asses and do something. If there's one thing the republicans are good at it's always staying together, even if their idea of "protection" comes over as downright fascist.

yep, I totally agree. It'd make more sense if there was a sort of "these are the general locations that you might want to look" and then have to comb through those areas or something. But just having to sit there and go over every inch of the planet so slowly is stupid.

I usually end up using my heavy weapon a TINY bit to much, and thus when I hit a boss I'm sitting there plinking away with my pistol.

Figures, they did say that the sales of the packages for the game released in disk format. I'm guessing the exclusivity contract has run out and based on their actions they probably won't renew unless offered a bundle of money.

If you'd bothered to read the thread, these 'laws' were passed by an independent body - the media regulator. This is not legislation and it seems pretty flimsy to call it law. While it was passed by a government body, it was not passed by parliament - what most people consider government. Think it would hold up under legal scrutiny?

I don't think anyone is disputing Mao as a mass murderer, more that you aren't inextricably linked to somebody because you call them one of your favorite political philosophers, and thus you OBVIOUSLY have to have the exact same ideals, beliefs, and overall goals as somebody you consider your favorite.