xzar_monty

I am not completely certain, but I don't think I got anything from that quest, either. I am on my first and only playthrough, and I keep noticing bugs in the game, too. I don't think any of them are going to be fixed anymore, but obviously I don't know and I would be happy to be wrong on this. I think you've got two choices: give it up, or continue. I've decided to continue, because for me the pros quite clearly outweigh the cons, but yeah, it's not as if this game looks very polished, even if it's been out for more than a year.

Fair enough, I see your point.

No. I never min-max, and I don't exploit the very obvious flaws. I'm not trying to sound like a saint here, mind you. But you said it yourself: it drains from the fun. I like to have fun. And challenges are a big part of the fun. So, no min-maxing, no exploits. They're way too easy. Overcoming challenges leads to a sense of accomplishment, which is great fun. Cheating doesn't give you that.

4) Don't do it. #1 is also good and pretty logical.

Just yesterday I had my combat log fill (like, with endless repetitions hardly even enabling me to pause the game) with the information that "Eder abandoned casting <some ability a fighter cannot even have>". This is a really annoying bug, it has to be said.

You disregard context. I'm quite familiar with the Greek pantheon (and anyone who isn't could read Mythos by Stephen Fry, for example, as it's a really interesting presentation of the theme). The crucial context is the history of the gods. They wanted to end an era of devastating conflicts, and they perfected the science of soul-making. Both of these require determination and focus to such an extent that their behavior in the game is not consistent with it.

Actually, I disagree with this, simply because of the amount of time they have on their side. There'd be nothing wrong if they were just obstinate in their ways and passionate in their dealings, but the way they resemble a bunch of teenagers is a bit embarrassing from the writers' point of view. For instance, Arkemyr is mere mortal, but he's got more wit than all the gods put together. Arkemyr is not particularly witty as a character (although there's nothing wrong with him), but he beats all the gods hands down when it comes to presence, character and poise. He shouldn't, in my view. (It is, of course, perfectly fine if you don't agree with this.) The silliness of the gods is probably exacerbated by the tone of the narrator which strongly suggests drama, grandeur and power (surely you would agree with this point?), but then the gods themselves are nothing but a bunch of immature bickerers.

That last point, by the way, is excellent. One of the distinguishing characteristics of an immortal or at least very long-living deity should be a certain dignity and quiet calm. It just follows logically: if you've got eons of time on your side, you will have experienced just about everything, and there is never any reason to lose your temper or get hasty. But for whatever reason, this fundamental fact escaped the writers, and what we got was quarreling kids, as you so aptly put it. It's terrible. Definitely among the most dislikeable factors in the game. As for stuff that I really like: the graphics. They're just gorgeous. Boy but they're good.

When it comes to the slow tempo and/or boring nature of The Name of the Rose, the main thing to understand is that the main characters have to adhere to the rhythm of the monastery, which is very strict and leaves them precious little time to carry the plot forward. This is an intentional constraint that Eco embedded into the story by his choice of venue. Of course it's perfectly fine not to like it. But it's not as if it's poor writing or planning -- quite the opposite, really, it's very meticulously executed. But then, if someone is inclined not to like something, it's almost impossible to change that. Like, I am a musician of some skill and can easily recognize that Dream Theater, for instance, is comprised of superb musicians who really know what they're doing. But in my view, there's almost nothing interesting in what they do -- they just can't write music that speaks to me. And it's not as if it's "overly technical" or anything like that; someone like Allan Holdsworth is even more technical(ly demanding), and he's brilliant, utterly brilliant.

Nope, I did not.

I would probably agree with your first statement: for an awful lot of people, there is no distinction between what they don't like and what isn't well done. As for people's capacity for judging quality in writing: a pretty good clue is in the way they write themselves. If there are serious problems with syntax or if the vocabulary seems sorely lacking, they probably aren't in any position to comment on other people's writing. I would be interested to know why you loathe The Name of the Rose. I mean, loathing is pretty strong. I can easily understand why somebody might not like it -- the exceedingly slow tempo would be reason enough -- but loathing is interesting.

Why is Xoti not well written? Doesn't she rather well represent a particular kind of religious zealot (say, a North American foaming-at-the-mouth-abortion-campaigner who is so set in their ways that objective facts simply don't register)? I agree that she is unlikeable and foolish - but not well written? Why?

Interesting now (a bit later in the game, that is) that Eder and Xoti seem to be getting along really well despite Eder definitely saying they shouldn't even talk. I still feel there's a bit of a contradiction here.

I have had the occasional crash since the beginning and I still have them with 5.0. No idea what causes them.

There's been plenty of discussion about the Plucked Fruit quest and the fact that it can't really be resolved satisfactorily. I agree with that, but I just noticed that the quest also fails on one additional level: the journal. I tried a couple of different options, and if you do not blame the guy who actually stole the fruit, your journal will report that you framed the innocent guy who was originally blamed and tied to the post. This happens even if you specifically lie to the chief and say you do not know who did it (after you've given back the fruit). I mean, this quest is such a mess. It looks like a dreadful oversight that was not checked properly. As far as I can tell, there is no way to give the fruit back to the guy who buried it and then concoct a story to the chief. That would be the sensible thing to do, but it's not possible, as far as I can tell.

Because that would be a whole other kind of challenge. The challenges are very specific and each of them adds a particular kind of difficulty to the game, very different from enemy stats. It's fine if you don't understand them -- just ignore them. I find them completely understandable but also thoroughly uninteresting and have no use for them. But I think it's nice that they're there.

Interesting to see how long the tail turns out to be. If I were to make a guess as to whether the investors will get their money back, I'd say no chance. But I would be happy to be wrong.

Actually, I don't think a high intelligence, high perception mage is that much more effective than a mediocre-intelligence, mediocre-perception mage. One big reason is that everything is per encounter. which means that you're not going to get the bonus spells so common in many CRPGs (DD-based particularly). Your spells are going to be a tiny bit more effective, but not a lot. As for builds: my take is that pretty much everything works, that's how unimportant and interchangeable the skills, ability points, items etc. are. This is not a good thing or a bad thing in my view, it's just the way it is. It took me a while to realize that there is no need to hunt for any special items in the game -- some are nice, no question, and slightly more effective than others, but none are needed. For instance, I haven't re-equipped my ship, much less purchased an ostensibly better one. There's no need.

That does indeed sound plausible and quite all right except for the bit about Xoti respecting Eder's point of view. I'm not saying it's impossible or totally out of character, but given Xoti's rather avid zealotry, her response here is maybe a bit too mature and measured. But that was certainly a good reply, no question.

So, I'm pretty sure a lot of players have noticed that when Xoti and Eder are in the same group, Xoti wants to be friends with Eder but Eder turns her down in no uncertain terms, telling that maybe they shouldn't be even talking. This may not happen in all games, but it has happened in all the three games I have started. But in all of those three games, when I have checked the relationship screen, they are on good terms. Nothing negative there at all: one of them has a "1" for the other, and the other has a "0". I find that there's a bit of a contradiction there. Anyone else feel the same?

I think it's really good BUT with some astonishing faults. Ultimately, I would recommend it. There are some things that I just don't understand. Like, some of the encounters are designed in such a cruel way that if my DM did that, I would leave his group pretty much straight away. Pitting the player against a way way way superior opponent without means of escape (random encounter) is just mean. Why do that? But it can seriously happen in P:K.

Ha. I bought D:OS from Steam, found out straight away that I'm not interested and was able to get a full refund because I had played the game for less than an hour. I feel for you. (Ditto for Tyranny, by the way.)

The differences are not that meaningful, though. I mean, obviously a 7 Might will produce less damage than 19 Might, but it doesn't mean a whole lot because you will deal plenty either way. It may mean a lot, if you're playing on PotD with all the god challenges on (I don't know), but generally it just doesn't. The only stat I have noticed to really have a specific effect on how you get along in the game is Perception when it comes to finding traps.

The additional length needed is not 12.57 kilometers, it's 12.57 meters.

Ok, thanks. I still wonder why it isn't shown on the character screen. I mean, most all effects you get from items are clearly displayed, but this one isn't. And yes indeedy, the radius thing is funny, mathematically speaking. Here's a good illustration: supposing, for the sake of the argument, that the earth is a uniformly smooth sphere, you need a rope with a length of approximately 40,000 kilometers to encircle the earth with it. Now, how long does the rope have to be for it to encircle the earth so that it floats two meters above the surface all around the earth?