Junai

This one is worth the three hours, imo. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SCsueX2bZdbEzRtKOCEyT J

It's Dragon Age with TB. Not for me, but I'm sure many will enjoy it. Oh well.. thursday's over, and so is the presentation. Some other time maybe.. J

Well.. looks a bit like the IE games..

I think TB is a bit too niche, especially if they're going for the big Diablo / WoW -bucks, and it's going to be a co-op multiplayer thing on Google Stadia etc. Hoping for RTwP.

Hmm.. some news next week it seems.. www.youtube.com/watch?v=maijYOOO-pE

I think it's wonderful that BG3 is set in King's Landing. Can even hear Drogon's rattling breath in the background. And to see Ned Stark again. The transformation into Bhaalspawn mindflayer wasn't quite GoT CGI-level though.. More like 1992 Braindead. I'm excited. J.

Trump is perfect.. after a few years, even Cotton Eye Joe will be begging for another politically correct Washington puppet.

This one sums it up nicely..

It's not the parliament's fault if people don't know what they're voting for? You do know how a democracy works, right? The people vote for someone to represent them. You think it's a good idea to have a few elitists, representatives from the big corporations and bankers get together to rule the "serfs"? You should read some history. This has happened before.. a few times. The fact that the election process in the UK sucks marginally more doesn't mean the EU travesty shouldn't be ended as soon as possible. Anyway, the people have started to speak up, and the reactions in Brussels to this resounding display of democratic power is.. frowning, and irritation. Amazingly immature. That in itself should tell you a few things about these lizards. And the Lisbon Treaty.. You think these people introduced the idea of a European constitution in order to give the people more power? And when the people exercise their democratic rights and say no, the Commission tells them they're mistaken, and then they go on with their backup plan and implement it anyway? That's a good one.. X - "Hey, Im'm here to empower you, you ignorant populist" Y - Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want anything from you. X - Sure you do. You don't know what you're doing. We'll put this to the vote. Y - Votes no. X - You're mistaken! I'm here to give you more democracy! Y - Uh? X - I will now implement the legislation anyway, since you don't know what's best for you. Y - Wait, what!? X - We have overruled your referendum, and crippled your democracy, in order to give you more democracy. Our.. kind.. of democracy. Y - Oh gee.. thanks a bunch. ----------- "If governments allow themselves to be entirely bound to the decisions of their parliament, without protecting their own freedom to act, a break up of Europe would be a more probable outcome than deeper integration." - Mario Monti. That's a cute one. He's basically saying, we won't let democracy get in the way of our grand project. Noone. ever. voted. for. political. intergration. These people stink, and if you can't smell it.. well, it doesn't matter. It'll be over pretty soon. Europeans are immunized against tyranny after centuries of suffering. The only ones who don't get it are a few deluded elitists and newly educated poli sci majors. J.

When did you vote for Szydło? Never. When did you vote for any specific government minister or bureaucrat? Never.But you voted for PiS (or another party) that got the majority and therefore usually confirms the Prime Minister. The election of Juncker worked exactly the same way. The large political parties in Europe ran with Juncker, Schulz, etc. as their top candidates for the job, and because the EP has to confirm anyone appointed as president of the Commission, the candidate of the majority got the job. That works almost exactly as it does in Poland. So - everyone who voted in the last EP elections voted for the Commission president, as well. For the rest, see Elerond's post above. Those who voted in the European election did so to choose their MEP, not the president. Few knew Juncker was in the "race". According to some polls in Germany two weeks before the election, 7% could identify Juncker as the center-right's leading candidate. About 10% of Europe voted for the center-right parties backing Juncker, and the process leading up to Juncker's "election" as the EPP's candidate was pretty shady. He got less than half of the votes, and there's no list of who the delegates were or how they voted. In the end you ended up with one name on the ballot paper. The EU trying to present a facade of democracy. The EU Parliament is the only parliament in the western world which can't introduce legislation. They don't even debate the legislation put forth by the Commission. Good ol' Sovjet times.. Did you know Barroso used to be a hardcore commie? As for all the good they've done. The Euro? Massive unemploymency. Stealing money from people's bank accounts. Got an account in a bank in Cyprus? Better check if it's all there. Did you vote for Mario Monti? Goldman Sachs now conquering Europe as their technocrats ascended to the prime ministership in Italy.. with the help of the good old commies in the Commission of course. Ireland was the only country to put the Lisbon Treaty to a public vote, and it was rejected. Of course Barroso couldn't handle that, and a year later they had to have a new vote, to give the Irish a chance to "correct their mistake". A few years ago when Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was told by Eurosceptics that the EU was planning to create an EU army, he snickered and rejected it as a dangerous fantasy. Now it's all over the news. EU army. And they want to meddle in Ukraine and start provoking Putin. Yeah.. this sounds good. I suppose you voted for all of this. No? J.

I have also always find it is excellent way to stand up against unelected bureaucrats and megalomaniacs, by changing them to another group of unelected bureaucrats and megalomaniacs PS. I always wonder why people bother to put unelected before bureaucrats, as bureaucrats by their nature are unelected First of all, you stand up to someone, not against them. Second - it is absolutely necessary to emphasize that they are unelected, as the technocrats of the EU act as elected rulers. J. All the people in EU that have political power are elected. Don't trust your high-school teacher.. J.

I have also always find it is excellent way to stand up against unelected bureaucrats and megalomaniacs, by changing them to another group of unelected bureaucrats and megalomaniacs PS. I always wonder why people bother to put unelected before bureaucrats, as bureaucrats by their nature are unelected Well, technocrats. But the bureaucrats of the EU tend to act as elected rulers as well. J.

Congratulations Britain.. Standing up to unelected bureaucrats and megalomaniacs is always the right thing to do. J.

Was going to give you a chance to be mature and let someone else have the last word for a change. But I suppose it's naive to hope for something like that, especially considering the previous two-page mudslinging contest. If I tried to preach Christianity while criticizing BD sjws, I might be a hypocrite. As someone who reads the Bible when he's drunk in a motel room however, I doubt I qualify. Entertainers have always been praised for their activism, but they've also been criticized for it. Plenty of precedence for both praise and criticism. Many people agreed with Clapton when he said he was tired of listening to Bono's grandstanding. That make Clapton a hypocrite? Hardly. Suggesting that Scott's writing has value because someone dismisses her efforts out of hand.. Heh, is this one of those "if you don't like it young man, we'll keep shoving it down your throat 'till you do" - things? I agree. What a waste. Abuse good ol' BG like that just to piss people off. The way I see it, the sjws can't make a dent in the ugly macho titles mentioned by Hurl, so when they finally get a chance to tear something up, they go full retard and find sexism even in two-line Safana characters. J.

Come on. I agree with many of the reviews given by the GG guys, but endemic, leukemia and conspiracy? And you accuse me of dramatizing? Otherwise you're right. It's all in the eye of the beholder. It's like Koveras giving you a +1 defence ring. When you realize it's from him, it's no longer a present, but an insult. As I mentioned a few pages back, I'm more preoccupied with the authors' intent than the actual material. Trying to understand art without knowing who the artist is? I suppose some people might read the Bible as an historical tale and learn certain things from it, but when you understand where the author is coming from, that's when you really understand what's being said. Try not to understand the author, and you end up with people like the Creationists, who think the devil interfered with God's work and placed dinosaur bones in the ground to confuse us. After reading a few interviews, I decided I didn't like the author very much, and consequently her jokes are less funny. To me. It seems hundreds of fans agree. Are we all deluded? A couple of hacks who want to cash in on a 20 year old franchise, who makes the game look worse than it was 20 years ago, who are preachy and lofty, mediocre writers, and deletes criticism. And Grommie wants to support them, cause he feels fans are unfair. J.

I have a hard time imagining circumstances where it would be necessary to exclude it. I agree with this sentiment, there is no reason to not make games more inclusive where applicable If you two geniouses think adding animations of men passionately making love to hairy male fantasy-dwarves belong in any entertainment product, you have serious mental issues, and should be shipped off to the nearest psych ward immediately. You honestly believe Bioware is doing the gay community a favour by adding bizarre mockery like that? You think stuff like that is art on par with Priscilla the Desert Queen, Brokeback Mountain or My private Idahoe? You guys from Cleveland or something? You want your twelve year old sitting there watching that stuff? Maybe Canadian computer geeks *have* taught me something valuable, namely how much I disagree with their utterly misunderstood political correctness. Did anyone read the open letter from a trans woman to Amber? That should be enough to silence most sjws. "as for conspiracy, am pretty sure that it is a secret that developers is using bg style expansions to teach kids values. is a secret that only j is aware o'." So who are they preaching to then? You? They've already stated they're proud to add sjw stuff. I'd hate to think they did it to teach the fans from the nineties anything. Those guys are in their late thirties by now. And yes, you're absolutely right, I'd probably see the goblin joke as trivial - funny even - if the whole project didn't have that preachy feel to it. Anyway, probably best to stop before this devolves into two pages with Hiro-Gromnir you-said I-said monstrosity. J.

So the poorly written transgender character was not a joke, but the goblin was? Maybe Gromnir can keep better track of American and Canadian developers' attempts at humour, as he is english speaking and familiar with all the out-of-place jokes. Personally I just thought the writing was preachy and boring. What I read, anyway. I'm not sure I want to use the term leukemia to describe the current trend. More like watering down the whiskey. Then again, with all the violence and misogyni in many computer games, maybe it's natural that Baldur's Gate received a trendy sjw makeover. And please don't pull the tiresome conspiracy card when there's no conspiracy. Many feminists loudly proclaim they want to teach us values and add more sjw content to games, including the writer(s) of SoD. It's all over teh Internetz. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/opinion/anita-sarkeesian-on-video-games-great-future.html There's hardly a game these days without LGBT content, or a healthy mix of Caucasian, Afraican and Asian characters. Wasn't there some male man & dwarf lovemaking in Dragon Age? Is it necessary to add this stuff to every game? Now they're campaigning for a lesbian Disney princess? http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/04/frozen-elsa-first-lesbian-disney-princess-lgbt I don't mind if the progressives' and feminists' contribution helps end macho bs games like like GTA or COD. I never play FPS, and I don't even own a consol. But how they managed to find sexism in little old Baldur's Gate is beyond me. J.

If you take all the interviews with the developers and the rest of the content into account, together with the current trend to teach children about real life values via computer games, you'll see that the goblin ain't all that tongue-in-cheek. The *rest* of the setting is however, or at least as I see it, was never intended to be an educational tool. That's why the goblin and the rest of the new content is out of place. If you'll allow me to illustrate.. I got together with a few old friends for a DD session a couple of years ago. We all agreed we were getting too old for roleplaying games, but we played DD and had some fun. Brought a few beers of course. As you can imagine, this wasn't much of a roleplaying session.. meta gaming, in and out of character, RL talk, and a few good laughs. Mostly an excuse to meet and chat. At one point the DM's wife walks in, hands us a few cupcakes she had made, and tells us to be good boys and make friends with the bad guys! She was on the way to the bathroom to give the toddler a bath before bedtime. As you can probably understand, we broke into laughter and quickly packed up. After half an hour of acceptable grown-up talk, we decided to switch to cards and Scotch. You see, Amber Scott, with her sjw nonsense, is like having your mother walk in during your DD session telling you to grow up. I can accept that with a chuckle, and uninstall the game. Or not buy it at all. But Beamdog must realize they aren't going to sell any games this way. If Trent and his crew think they can forcefeed old BG fans some political bollox via a computer game, and thereby.. teach or raise us, they're seriously deluded. You can call it art if you want to, and insist that the writers are within their rights to do this, but when the fans laugh their asses off and criticize Beamdog, you can't possibly call that unfair. Trying to skool grown men, and then delete citicism on the Steam and GoG boards when fans criticize them, is the behaviour of a complete nincompoop. And anyone who tries to defend them ends up in the same camp, imho. Immature sex jokes, or the option to assist Shadow Druids because of their nice Aloe Vera balm, might be out of place, but it's accepted with a snicker. Most people draw the line when the wife walks in to teach you about values however. J.

Forgotten Realms is a tongue-in-cheek fantasy world. It was never meant to be shaped into an educational setting by self-righteous middle aged women with a social agenda. What makes me uncomfortable is the condescension, the writers intention, the fact that this mediocre writer intends to use an idiotic fantasy game to preach about liberal values. What a joke. As she said in her interview with Kotaku, she hopes to write many social justice games in the future. Let's see, now we've had a gay orc, and transsex.. erm.. trans*gender* ..gnome? What's next? Maybe her anti-racist goblin will deter me from criticizing labour's immigration policies? rofl.. There is nothing about trans people, or gay people that makes me uncomfortable. Phlegmatic, slightly coprpulent, middle aged women who approach me with a condescending cackle however.. Besides, her using FR and BG as a soapbox for her sjw agenda is just damaging to the parties in question, as these serious real-life issues deserve a more serious platform than a silly computer game. Her character, however small and insignificant, is a "mustache on the Mona Lisa". A joke. A startrooper in Middle Earth, a Spartan soldier on a space station. It's just a nuisance. Insignificant rubbish of course, but enough to stir up some fuzz and irritate the old fans. Quite entertaining actually, since I had never heard about Gamer Gate or any of these controversies before. I don't play much games these days. Sounds fitting. Let's reduce Beamdog's *exciting* non-cis experiment to exactly that. It's a rejection of said writer's rubbish, not of gays or transgender people.

Sounds fitting. Let's reduce Beamdog's *exciting* non-cis experiment to exactly that.

I haven't played SoD yet, is the transexual NPC in question one of the established NPC's from BG1 and BG2? Or a wholly new character? It's a new smile painted on Mona Lisa's face. It's Han Solo not firing first. It's a poorly written character, and an insult to transsexuals. It's Amber Scott's arrogant cackle. J.

It's preposterous to complain about criticism, if you cackle in the face of devoted fans. The criticism is not.. unfair. If it's your own art, you're free to express yourself in any way you want. If you're writing a sequel, you shouldn't stray too far from the source material and the style of the established title. The fans are fully within their rights to whine. If Peter Jackson turned Gandalf into a transsexual, it wouldn't matter if Gandalf spoke about it just a few times. It wouldn't be The Lord of the Rings anymore. Even if Jackson decided to do a sequel, where Gandalf delves into the nature of his sexuality, and shares his childhood problems with his travel companions.. Would be hilarious, but I'm not I'd buy the gift wrapped extended edition. And PJ would probably be busy in court for a couple of decades.

Well, it looks like Amber Scott succeeded. We're now debating the role minorities should play in entertainment products, as well as transgender rights, rather than having fun playing a game. Can someone please create a computer game? I'd like to get away from serious real life issues for a while and just enjoy a good fantasy game. Also, I'd prefer serious issues to be kept out of games altogether. A goblin accusing me of racism won't really deter me from criticizing labour's immigration policy. I was looking forward to PoE, but it was written by someone who has spirituality, souls and enlightenment on his brain. I looked forward to SoD too, but that was written by somone who obviously aspires to become Bernie Sanders' campaign manager. I'd like a game set in Forgotten Realms, where I can roam around with Korgan and look for treasure.. and beat up a few skeletons. Anyone? I'll even pay for it. J.

I dunno, "maybe have female characters who are not terrible stereotypes" and "maybe have characters who are not straight" doesn't sound like "an attempt to piggyback issues into a popular game series" to me. It sounds more like, well, common sense. I mean, you can fault the execution, but I see nothing objectionable about the intent. I don't mean to cut in, but I found this remark very interesting. The way I see it, people rarely, if ever, fault the execution. Of anything. It's the doers intent they object to. It's like that in every walk of life. If you approach something with humility, you can get away with the biggest blunders. Baldur's Gate had some very simple writing too, but people loved it. I believe that even if Amber Scott was an amazing writer, people would take a piss, because of her attitude alone. Call it delusional, but that's the way it is. The writer's attitude is reflected in her writing, and I doubt her art will appeal to anyone as long as she doesn't drop that shtick. It's amazing that she managed to annoy so many. If she keeps it up, I'll be disappointed, but not surprised. J.

So if a certain number of reviews contain complaints about the writer's political leanings, they should be lumped together, and the reviewers dismissed as 'deluded'? On top of that, their criticism should be seen as an unfair and organized attack on the developer? Good Lord.. I'm starting to understand why Americans vote for Trump - just because.